Phnom Penh - Kuwait's prime minister finished a full day of
talks during his official Cambodian visit Monday, inking agreements
on everything from direct flights to football friendlies.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Sheikh Nasser
Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Kuwaiti met with Prime
Minister Hun Sen and ministers including Commerce Minister Cham
Prasidh and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
A good portion of the talks focused on joint agricultural
development, with Kuwait expressing interest in buying up arable
Cambodian land in exchange for providing technical assistance.
'Kuwait is rich in oil but it is covered mostly with desert,'
Khieu Kanharith said. 'Kuwait wants to help Hun Sen make Cambodia an
agricultural super-power.'
Oil was expected to be high on the agenda, with Cambodia expecting
to begin tapping potentially rich off-shore reserves within three
years, but Kanharith said only that technical assistance had been
discussed.
Possible low-interest loans from Kuwait were also on the agenda.
The two countries also inched closer to an agreement on direct
flights, signing a memorandum.
Another subject that came up was football friendlies between the
two nation's youth teams to help Cambodia boost its woeful world
standing in the sport.
'We would like to see the Kuwaiti youth team visit and ours visit
them for sport,' Kanharith said.
The Kuwaiti prime minister is scheduled to end his three-day visit
Tuesday.
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