Phnom Penh, Mar 27 (IANS): Cambodia and Malaysia on Monday vowed to further promote their bilateral relations and cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, energy, agriculture, education, and labour among others for mutual benefits.

The commitment was made during a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his visiting Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We discussed cooperation in various areas, highly valued our bilateral relations, and vowed to further enhance bilateral cooperation in all areas including trade, investment, tourism, energy, connectivity and people-to-people contact," Hun Sen said in a joint press conference after the meeting.

"We encouraged both sides to continue exchanging high-level visits more often and at all levels to build closer friendship, to further increase mutual trust and to expand the broader scope of bilateral cooperation," he added.

According to the Cambodian leader, the trade volume between the two ASEAN member countries was valued at $620 million in 2022, up 24 per cent from $500 million in 2021.

At the press conference, Anwar said regional and international issues such as the Myanmar situation, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the Korean Peninsula, among others, had been discussed, saying that both sides had "similar views" on these issues.

He also thanked Cambodia for helping 287 Malaysians who had been victims of job scams in the kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister promised to encourage Malaysian companies to buy milled rice and cashew nuts from Cambodia.

At the end of the meeting, the two premiers witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding regarding the recruitment, employment and repatriation of Cambodian workers in the domestic sector and in the formal sector.

Anwar arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday morning for a day-long official visit at Hun Sen's invitation.