PHNOM PENH, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Youths play a crucial role in maintaining and strengthening bilateral ties between Cambodia and China, a Cambodian diplomat has said.
In a recent written interview with Chinese media, Cambodian Foreign Ministry's Under-Secretary of State Sok Soken said youths played an imperative role in soft diplomacy in terms of exchanging ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of cultural exchanges in order to foster mutual understanding and trust.
"I strongly believe that mutual understanding and healthy friendship between young generations of our two countries will play a critical role in building mutual trust and confidence, which will provide impactful and positive influence on our bilateral ties," he said.
"Moreover, good relations between our youths across all platforms will create productive channels of communication that can concretize into long-term bridge between our two countries to better safeguard our core interests in light of regional and global challenges in this fast-evolving future," he added.
Soken, who is also the head of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (UYFC) in the ministry of foreign affairs, said in order to further strengthen people-to-people connectivity, both countries must provide opportunities for youths to share their experiences and knowledge through various activities including young leader programs, cultural exchange programs and educational programs.
"On this note, I am grateful to see increasing youth interactions and cross cultural exchanges between the two countries," he said.
He said that recently, he had the opportunity to join the UYFC delegation led by UYFC's president Hun Many to interact with All-China Youth Federation in Beijing on Dec. 6, 2018.
The diplomat said in his remarks there, he highlighted five important values to ensure long lasting success and friendship between the two countries.
They included pragmatism and resilience; humility and strength; commitment and accountability; confidence and audacity of hope; and mutual trust and faith.
"I believe these are fundamental values for our youths in the 21st century to reflect and internalize so to be better prepared for the future ahead," he said.
"As the youths in this generation, we must stand firm on the core values that drive us to achieve impactful success," Soken said. "In my personal view, these values will genuinely contribute to sustaining long lasting relations between both countries and will ensure that whatever challenges ahead, we can optimally address them in the spirit of durable peace and development, and good neighborliness."
