MANILA, Philippines — A high level official from Cambodia will visit the Philippines next week, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Deputy Prime Minister Sok Chenda Sophea will be in the country on Aug. 27 and 28, 2024.

This will be the first official visit of Sok, who is also minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and head of his delegation, to a member state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the first by a Cambodian foreign minister to the Philippines since 2017.

Sok will co-head the fourth meeting of the Philippines-Cambodia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) with his counterpart Enrique Manalo.

Important areas of cooperation such as defense and security, trade and investments, agriculture, and people-to-people exchanges will be discussed.

The Philippines and Cambodia have maintained cordial ties since the resumption of diplomatic relations in 1995. Cambodia maintains an embassy in Manila, and the Philippines maintains an embassy in Phnom Penh.

During Cambodia's chairmanship of the Asean in 2012, the regional bloc for the first time failed to issue a unanimous statement regarding the South China Sea issue.

Asean accused Cambodia, a close ally of China, of siding with the communist state and preventing the group from reaching an agreement.

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