Cambodia, Kuwait talk oil, agriculture, football and friendship

Aug 4, 2008, 11:02 GMT

Phnom Penh - Kuwait's prime minister finished a full day of talks during his official Cambodian visit Monday, inking agreements on everything from direct flights to football friendlies.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Kuwaiti met with Prime Minister Hun Sen and ministers including Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

A good portion of the talks focused on joint agricultural development, with Kuwait expressing interest in buying up arable Cambodian land in exchange for providing technical assistance.

'Kuwait is rich in oil but it is covered mostly with desert,' Khieu Kanharith said. 'Kuwait wants to help Hun Sen make Cambodia an agricultural super-power.'

Oil was expected to be high on the agenda, with Cambodia expecting to begin tapping potentially rich off-shore reserves within three years, but Kanharith said only that technical assistance had been discussed.

Possible low-interest loans from Kuwait were also on the agenda.

The two countries also inched closer to an agreement on direct flights, signing a memorandum.

Another subject that came up was football friendlies between the two nation's youth teams to help Cambodia boost its woeful world standing in the sport.

'We would like to see the Kuwaiti youth team visit and ours visit them for sport,' Kanharith said.

The Kuwaiti prime minister is scheduled to end his three-day visit Tuesday.