Vice President will be accompanied by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
“Vice President will attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in Phnom Penh on 12 November 2022. This year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations and is being celebrated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year," the ministry added.
On 13 November 2022, Vice President will participate in the 17th East Asia Summit which comprises the ten ASEAN member states (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam) and its eight dialogue partners- India, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.
“During his visit, Vice President will also have bilateral engagements with the Cambodian leadership. On the margins of the Summits, he will hold bilateral meetings with leaders from other countries as well," the ministry said.
While returning from Phnom Penh, Vice President Dhankhar will also visit Siem Reap to review the preservation and restoration work being undertaken by India at Cambodian heritage sites.
Vice-President’s visit will be the second by an Indian Vice-President in the last decade. In 2015, then Vice-President Hamid Ansari visited Cambodia.
During the previous visit, Mr. Ansari met Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia and also signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) on the promotion of tourism and development projects. Former Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh also visited the country during their tenures in office.
India and Cambodia enjoy a wide-ranging bilateral partnership. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, both sides work together on “commerce, cultural exchanges, capacity building, concessional loans for developmental projects and restoration and conservation of old temples in Cambodia."
India played a part in the restoration of the famous Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia during the 1990s. New Delhi also provides substantial development support to Pnomh Phenh through programs like the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) projects.
