Cambodia vows to mediate all issues peacefully as ASEAN chair

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- As Cambodia becomes the rotating ASEAN chair in 2012, the country vows to urge peaceful resolutions in all disputes, said the Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong on Wednesday.

Hor Namhong, who is also minister of foreign affairs, made the remarks during a bilateral meeting with visiting Vietnam's Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh.

"We had discussed about all important issues including ASEAN in 2012," Hor Namhong told reporters after the meeting. "As the ASEAN chair, Cambodia will play a role as a mediator to deal with all issues in ASEAN."

At the meantime, he said that Cambodia would try all its best to strengthen good cooperation between ASEAN and China in 2012.

Pham Binh Minh promised to assist Cambodia whenever it needs in order to help the country chair ASEAN successfully in 2012.

During the meeting, both sides also agreed to boost stronger ties on trade by pledging to push the two countries' bilateral trades to 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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