South Korean Ambassador to Cambodia, Park Heung-kyeong commended Cambodia for its untiring efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic during a ceremony to donate Covid-19 test kits valued at $300,000 to the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

This is further to what the South Korean government and its people donated last year, that is, $200,000  in cash and test kits valued at $100,000 as well as $1 million through Korea’s ABC Programme (Agenda for Building Resilience Against Covid-19).

Speaking at the handover ceremony attended by Health Minister Mam Bun Heng and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Soeung Rathchavy’, Ambassador Hueng-kyeong said the donation denotes the close ties of cooperation between the two countries and is a clear demonstration of their deep bonds of friendship.

“Since the very outbreak of Covid-19, Korea did not hesitate to join hands with Cambodia to combat the virus,” he added.

He said Cambodia with the benefit of its decisive and effective measures has reduced the number of new cases a day and some 2.5 million people have already been vaccinated.

Since the re-establishment of diplomatic ties in 1997, Ambassador Heung-kyeong said Cambodia and the Republic of Korea have been making further tremendous advances in the bilateral relations.

“Our ties are ever-deepening. Our affinity now spans a full range of areas: the political, economic, development, and cultural cooperation fields,” he added.

He said Cambodia is now one of Korea’s key partner countries in terms of ODA (Official Development Assistance) programmes.

“In the early 1990s, Korea’s grant aid to Cambodia started on a small scale, mainly in the form of humanitarian aid. However, there has been a remarkable increase in the volume. In fact, it totalled almost $100 million in 2020. And the areas also have expanded to encompass a whole range of fields, such spheres as health, ICT, education and even culture,” he added.

“And I am glad of this opportunity to reaffirm once again Korea’s strong commitment to the development of the healthcare of Cambodia. And to reaffirm also our continued heartfelt support for Cambodia’s efforts to counter Covid-19,” said the ambassador.

He said that he has every confidence that Cambodia will succeed in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic and looked forward to continuing to work together to foster and nurture an even more thriving partnership between the countries and even deeper bonds of friendship between Cambodia and Korea.

• Tags: COVID-19 in Cambodia, Park Heung-kyeong, South Korean Ambassador to Cambodia