Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh is optimistic that the designation of 2024 as the Year of Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange will be an important factor in bolstering tourism, culture and people-to-people connectivity. Samdech Tea Banh, a Member of the Supreme Privy Council to His Majesty the King, made the remarks while he and visiting H.E. Li Shulei, a Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, were presiding over the official launch of the 2024 Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year at the Terrace of the Elephants in Siem Reap cultural province last evening. The 2024 Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year is an indispensable basis toward the achievement of a community of shared destiny between the two nations - Cambodia and China, he stressed. By defining 2024 as the Year of Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange, he continued, we will be able to better promote the culture, t raditions, tourism potential and people-to-people relations between our two nations, which will not only contribute to consolidating the good friendship and cooperation, enhancing tourism and trade relations and cultural exchanges between the two countries, but also show the importance of prioritising the Chinese market as a major source for Cambodian tourism. Samdech Tea Banh added that the launch of the 2024 Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year reflects the close relationship between tourism and culture, contributing significantly to strengthening attractiveness and competitiveness for tourism destinations as well as for the nation. In this regard, the cultural sector has served as an effective tool for the development of tourism products. According to Cambodian Minister of Tourism H.E. Sok Soken, in 2023 Cambodia received around 5.4 million international tourists, including about 540,000 Chinese tourists and some 18.5 million national tourists. H.E. Minister strongly hopes that the designation of 2024 as the Cambodia-China People-to-People Exchange Year will be a key driving force in attracting more Chinese tourists to visit Cambodia, boosting tourism and cultural ties, and promoting the people-to-people exchanges between the two nations, especially among the youths and youth leaders toward a Cambodia-China community of shared destiny. Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse Jan. 15 1987 -- Doctor Kim Man-cheol and 10 of his family members leave North Korea's eastern port of Chongjin to defect to South Korea. The family arrives in Seoul on Feb. 8 after passing through Japan and Taiwan. 1990 -- South Korea and Algeria agree to establish diplomatic relations. 2008 -- Kim Man-bok, head of the National Intelligence Service, offers to resign over leaking information about a conversation with his North Korean counterpart during his visit to Pyongyang on the eve of South Korea's 2017 presidential election. 2011 -- The Samho Jewelry, a South Korean chemical freighter with 21 crew members, including eight South Koreans, is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea while en route to Sri Lanka from the United Arab Emirates. All of the crew members of the 11,500-ton vessel are rescued in a raid by South Korean Navy commandos on Jan. 30, 2011, with five Somali pirates captured. The captured Somali pirates are later brought to South Korea to stand trial. The country's Supreme Court on Dec. 22, 2011, sentences the leader of the pirates to life imprisonment for attempting to kill the ship's South Korean captain. The four others receive sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years in prison. 2013 -- The South Korean government announces plans to add two new ministries to the existing 17-ministry structure for the incoming Park Geun-hye administration. The plan includes the establishment of a "Ministry of Creativity and Science" and the revival of the maritime and fisheries affairs ministry, as well as the post of economic vice prime minister. 2018 -- North Korea agrees to send a 140-member art troupe to South Korea to mark the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February during its working-level talks with the South. 2022-- A passenger aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines crashes in a resort town in Nepal with 68 passengers aboard, including two South Koreans later confirmed to have died in the accident. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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