PHNOM PENH: Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Sun Chanthol has praised the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for its enormous contributions to the country's economic growth and development.

He made the remark at the International Symposium to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of China's Principle of Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit, and Inclusiveness in Neighborhood Diplomacy held on Oct. 24 in Beijing, People's Republic of China.

“China's Belt and Road initiative has enormously helped the Cambodian people, rapidly reducing poverty and promoting Cambodia's socio-economic development towards becoming a high-economic country by 2050,” said H.E Sun Chanthol, who is also the First Vice-President of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

H.E. also paid a visit to Guangzhou and Shenzhen to discuss with large Chinese companies with experience in investing in a wide range of real estate, finance, agriculture, and modern transportation systems.

Mr. Lor Vichet, Vice President of the Cambodia Chinese Commerce Association (CCCA), echoed H.E. Sun Chanthol's views, saying that the BRI has opened up endless investment possibilities for Cambodia as many other countries are connected to the port of Guangzhou.

“Since the late 1970s, the Chinese economic reform introduced by Deng Xiaoping, Guangzhou along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen have become strategic cities for the country's sustainable development,” he noted

Guangzhou is an established global transport hub and also an emerging science, and technology innovation center, and Cambodia can tap on this potential to expand the partnership with the city to turn the Kingdom or Phnom Penh city into a global transport and trade hub, and an emerging science and technology innovation center, he added.