Learning from Yunnan’s Development Experience

For Mr. Sao Khoradin, Consul General of the Kingdom of Cambodia in Kunming, although Yunnan is located on China’s southwest border, its geographic position makes it the most convenient gateway connecting China with Southeast Asia and South Asia. He said that in recent years, the Yunnan-Cambodia trade volume has been on a constant rise, with cooperation in various fields deepening all the time.

As early as in 2004, in order to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between China and Cambodia, the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Cambodia was set up in southwest China for the first time, and the site of this Consulate General is in Kunming, Yunnan.

After more than 10 years, with joint efforts of the Yunnan Provincial Government and the Cambodian Consulate General in Kunming, a series of consensuses and achievements have been achieved in many areas of cooperation and development of Yunnan and Cambodia. Currently, Yunnan Province is sister provinces with Siem Reap Province and Banteay Meanchey Province of Cambodia, and Kunming is sister cities with the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

“Our two countries have been on friendly terms, which has laid a solid foundation for our closer cooperation,” Mr. Sao Khoradin was quoted as saying. He also said, Yunnan has successively established agricultural science and technology demonstration gardens in Siem Reap Province and Banteay Meanchey Province of Cambodia, which have provided guidance for the cultivation of new varieties of hybrid rice, hybrid corn, vegetables and flowers and accelerated agricultural development in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey with Yunnan’s agricultural science and technology. Mr. Sao Khoradin said, “Such cooperation has contributed to the rapid development of local agriculture to some extent.”

According to Mr. Sao Khoradin, Cambodia has large quantities of fertile and arable land, which provides great condition for agricultural development, while Yunnan has capital and technology, allowing highly complementary cooperation with each other. He believes that facing the global food crisis, if Yunnan can leverage its advantageous conditions to carry out comprehensive and in-depth cooperation with Cambodia, both sides will have much to offer in the future agricultural development and cooperation.

In addition, Yunnan-Cambodia exchanges in culture, education and other areas are getting increasingly frequent. At present, according to Mr. Sao Khoradin, 108 Cambodian students are studying Chinese, medicine and agricultural technology in various universities in Yunnan. Meanwhile, the Smile of Angkor, a large-scale Cambodian tourism and cultural show produced with investment from Yunnan Cultural Investment Group, has won praises of international tourists since its debut.

“Yunnan has a wealth of experience in tourism development, and Cambodia has equally rich and unique tourism resources,” said Mr. Sao Khoradin. He told us, Cambodia, with a long history, has created the world-famous Civilization of Angkor, and the existing Angkor ruins in Siem Reap mainly include Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat.

Moreover, many coastal areas of Cambodia offer beautiful coastlines. Mr. Sao Khoradin said, the award-winning natural beaches in Kep, Sihanoukville, Kampot Province and Koh Kong Province of Cambodia are among the most beautiful beaches in Asia. “Cambodia should learn from Yunnan’s experience in tourism development and seek more cooperation with Yunnan to better develop our own tourism resources,” said Mr. Sao Khoradin. (Reporter: Wang Hong)