As COVID-19 continues to threaten the lives of the people around the world with more than 12 million infected and more than half a million deaths around the globe, France, which is one of the major donor countries to Cambodia, is also hit by the unprecedented coronavirus spread. The Ambassador of France to Cambodia Eva Nguyen Binh spoke to Khmer Times about the two countries’ current relationship, France’s support for the Kingdom’s fight against COVID-19, the impact of French businesses in the Kingdom, its tourists stranded in Cambodia and how France will celebrate its National Day tomorrow.
KT: Have relations between France and Cambodia been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Ambassador Eva: The current sanitary crisis has not affected the relations between France and Cambodia and on the contrary has shown very visibly the density of cooperation between our two countries, especially in the area of health. For example, I recently went to the Khmer-Soviet hospital in order to thank the director of this hospital and all his team in the treatment of coronavirus cases and in particular French cases, who after treatment and healing were able to return to France. I was able to once again appreciate the close ties between our two countries: a good number of doctors at the hospital studied medicine in France as part of our bilateral cooperation and speak perfect French! And despite this crisis, we are still continuing to strengthen our cooperation. For example, 21 students have just been selected for the 2020-2021 academic year as part of the French Government Scholarship campaign for Cambodian students going to study in France, for a master’s or doctoral degree. 33 students will also have their scholarship renewed for an additional year.
KT: Can you talk about France’s support to Cambodia to fight the coronavirus?
Ambassador Eva: France has a long-standing and dense cooperation in Cambodia in the public health sector. In fact, French aid for health cooperation in Cambodia is estimated at more than 85 million euros (about $96 million) in just over 15 years. In Asia, the French Development Agency accompanies the responses of the States to the health crisis and its economic and social consequences, through regional projects in the health sector, credit lines intended to support SMEs penalised by the paralysis of the economy or budgetary loans to support public policies to combat the epidemic. Let me give you a concrete example: in the context of the “COVID-19 – Health in common” initiative, implemented by the French Development Agency, a two million euros project to support several front-line laboratories in the fight against the epidemic in Southeast Asia as part of the ECOMORE II project (ECOnomic Development, ECOsystem MOdifications, & Emerging Infectious Diseases Risk Evaluation) has been appraised. In Cambodia, the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia, designated a COVID-19 reference laboratory for Southeast Asia by the World Health Organization (WHO), will benefit from this financial support up to 500,000 euros (about $564,749). Moreover, support for three research projects has recently been granted by France for a cumulative total of 400,000 euros (about $451,799) to deal with COVID-19 in Cambodia. These projects are joint ventures between French institutions, such as CIRAD and Cambodian ones, such as the University of Health Sciences, the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute or the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50744030/bastille-day-spirit-in-aiding-cambodia-to-fight-covid/
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