[INNEWS comprehensive report] Muhammetnyyaz Mashalov, Turkmenistan’s ambassador to Cambodia, visited Cambodia on August 14 and met with Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism.
Mashalov said during the meeting that Turkmenistan intends to become the first country to open direct flights to Cambodia between Cambodia and Central Asian countries, and is keen to strengthen tourism cooperation between the two countries to promote reciprocal tourism flow.
During the meeting, Muhammetnyyaz Mashalov congratulated the Cambodian government for its gradual restoration of tourism, thus receiving more tourists. He said that seeing the potential of Cambodia’s tourism industry, Turkey intends to strengthen tourism cooperation with Cambodia, and strengthen reciprocal tourism and transit third-country tourism cooperation.
Muhammetnyyaz Mashalov said that the government of Turkmenistan is expected to open direct flights from Turkmenistan to Siem Reap, a major tourist destination in ASEAN, so that tourists from the country and surrounding countries can visit the world cultural heritage Angkor Wat and the whole of Cambodia.
In this regard, Thong Khon welcomed the Ambassador of Turkmenistan. He highlighted the factors of peace, stability and development in Cambodia, as well as its recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
He said that in 2023, Cambodia is expected to receive about 5 million international tourists, and cooperate with many countries to strengthen relations in the field of tourism to further increase the flow of tourists. In the first seven months of 2023, Cambodia has received more than 3.04 million international tourists.
Thong Khon expressed full support for the purpose of strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism and will continue to cooperate with the Turkish side.
Thong Khon also suggested that the two sides prepare a memorandum of understanding as a roadmap for implementing action plans related to tourism cooperation and as a strong proof of the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
It should be mentioned that Turkmenistan is one of the five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,) and these Central Asian countries currently do not have direct flights to Cambodia.
