On the morning of 28 September 2026, at the Peace Palace, Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei HUN Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, received a courtesy call from Her Excellency Raylene Siale Tagaloa Liufalani, Ambassador of New Zealand to Cambodia.
During the meeting, the Ambassador expressed her delight at being appointed as the new Ambassador of New Zealand to Cambodia and spoke highly of the relations and cooperation between New Zealand and Cambodia. She highlighted that New Zealand and Cambodia are longstanding friends and partners, noting that New Zealand takes pride in its contributions to Cambodia’s socio-economic recovery, nation-building, and development. The Ambassador also underscored the excellent bilateral cooperation in key sectors, including demining and unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance, water resource management, climate change, the environment, agriculture, female and youth empowerment, and the provision of scholarships for Cambodian students to pursue study in New Zealand. Furthermore, she recognised Cambodia’s vital regional role and expressed her gratitude to Cambodia for supporting the elevation of ASEAN–New Zealand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. She emphasised that, during her diplomatic tenure, she would continue to make every effort to promote and further strengthen New Zealand–Cambodia relations and cooperation in both bilateral and regional frameworks.
In response, Samdech Thipadei congratulated from Her Excellency the Ambassador on her appointment as the new Ambassador of New Zealand to Cambodia and expressed confidence that, during her tenure, relations and cooperation between the two countries would continue to flourish and strengthen. Expressing satisfaction with the progress of bilateral relations and cooperation, Samdech Thipadei noted that both countries still possess considerable potential to further strengthen and expand these ties. He also expressed his gratitude for New Zealand’s contributions to Cambodia’s socio-economic recovery, nation-building, and development, as well as its continued provision of scholarships to Cambodian students, cooperation in demining and UXO clearance, and support for peacekeeping forces deployed for humanitarian and international peacekeeping missions under the United Nations.
Samdech Thipadei and the Ambassador further discussed and exchanged views on exploring new opportunities to boost bilateral cooperation across key potential sectors, including the economy, trade and investment, technology transfer, renewable energy, tourism, human resource development through technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and people-to-people connectivity.
Before concluding the meeting, Samdech Thipadei encouraged the Ambassador to continue collaborating and maintaining close engagement with relevant Cambodian ministries and institutions to further deepen and strengthen cooperation between the two countries.
SP-STPM Unofficial Translation
