India to provide nearly $900,000 for quick-impact projects in Cambodia
- Sao Phal Niseiy
- June 19, 2019 11:30 AM
Support to Cambodia through these projects will total $895,145 for 2019 and 2020
PHNOM PENH--India and Cambodia Wednesday signed 18 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) through which India will extend grant assistance for quick-impact projects under the framework of the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) initiative.
Support to Cambodia through these projects will total $895,145 for 2019 and 2020, said Secretary of State Luy David of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who attended the signing ceremony along with Indian Ambassador to Cambodia Manika Jain.
“On behalf of the Cambodian government, I deeply thank the government of India for approving and providing financial support for the 18 quick-impact projects,” David said. “For Cambodia, the true value of these projects is significant [as they] can produce tangible results that touch the lives of people and improve their well-being.”
During the ceremony, Ambassador Jain said that the projects include programs in several fields such as health, rural development, information technology, culture, water and sanitation, women empowerment and the environment.
The MGC initiative, which began in 2015, consisted of five projects per year in 2015 and 2016, Jain said. But during a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to supporting 10 projects, she said.
“With the signing of 18 additional projects, the total number of projects now reach 34 from 2015 onward, which will be amounting to a total [funding] of $1.7 million,” the ambassador said.
“The government of India will continue to support and collaborate with the Cambodian government under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation framework,” she said, adding that the friendly relations and ties between the two countries were rooted in a common culture and religion.
Under the MGC framework, India also offers 10 scholarships per year for Cambodian students to pursue their education in India.
Cambodia and India formally established diplomatic relations in 1952. In the 1980s, India became the first country of the Western bloc to recognize the Phnom Penh government of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea led by Heng Samrin following the collapse of Khmer Rouge regime.
The ties between the two countries have been strengthened through high-level visits such as Hun Sen’s visit to India in January 2018 during the ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations.
As David pointed out Wednesday, Cambodia remains committed to supporting and strengthening sub-regional cooperation mechanisms based on, he said, “these sorts of concrete actions that can benefit not just us but the Mekong region.”
