PHNOM PENH, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and China have inked a deal to build a new communicable disease control facility in Cambodia for the country to expand its capacity to detect and respond to communicable disease outbreaks, such as Zika and Ebola, in a timely fashion, local media reported Wednesday, citing a health spokesman.
The Cambodian Ministry of Health spokesman Ly Sovann said both countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the new building near the Health Ministry in Phnom Penh, which China will donate.
Sovann, who is also the director of the ministry's Department of Communicable Diseases, said construction should start "very soon", and the building should be completed in about two years.
"We requested that China support us because it's very important, (given) new emerging diseases," he was quoted as saying by the Phnom Penh Post.
Both countries will also collaborate on training and exchange expertise.
Sovann said the new facility will help Cambodia implement recommendations from an independent assessment conducted last year, according to the newspaper.
