On November 7-8, CAAC Deputy Administrator Dong Zhiyi visited Cambodia with a delegation led by him, where the Chinese delegation had bilateral aviation talks with the Cambodian civil aviation delegation and carried out in-depth exchanges with Mao Havanall, Cambodian Secretary of State for Civil Aviation, on strengthening China-Cambodia civil aviation ties. The two sides exchanged views on civil aviation development and infrastructure investment policies in the two countries, reached agreement on expanding bilateral traffic right arrangement, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The new traffic right arrangement will enable better convenience and flexibility for air transport enterprises of the two countries to operate scheduled flights and carry out business cooperation, and facilitate the two sides to constantly deepen partnership in all fields of the civil aviation industry.

During his visit, Dong Zhiyi and the delegation also made a fact-finding trip to the New Siem Reap International Airport project invested and constructed by Chinese enterprise, where they were briefed on the project progress and gave detailed requirements for the Chinese investment and construction company. This project, as the first overseas airport BOT project participated by Chinese capital, marks an positive attempt of Chinese enterprises to invest in overseas infrastructure construction under the “Belt and Road” framework, as well as a significant measure to implement the relevant agreement reached at the 1st Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders Meeting held in Sanya in April, 2016, being of great significance to promoting infrastructure connectivity among “Belt and Road” countries, strengthening economic cooperation in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, and further developing China-Cambodia friendly neighborhood.

Cambodia is an important country along the “Belt and Road”, and a member of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism. In December 2010, China and Cambodia established comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. At present, 11 air transport enterprises from the two sides operate in total 184 scheduled flights per week between the two countries, i.e. 26 flights per day, which contributes powerful support to personnel exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between the two sides and strengthened connectivity between China and Cambodia as well as China and ASEAN countries.