Speech by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen President of the Cambodian People’s Party, President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia At the Meeting to Commemorate the 74th Anniversary of the Founding of the Cambodian People’s Party (28.06.1951-28.06.2025)

• Venerables Samdech Preah Akka Moha Sangkharaja Thipadei, Samdech Preah Sangkareach, Samdech Preah Reachea Kana, Preah Theranutherak,
• Senior leaders of the Islamic community, Leaders of the Christian community,
• Samdech, Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Lok Chumteav, Lok Oknha, Neak Oknha, Ladies and Gentlemen, National Distinguished Guests, Representatives of the Foreign Diplomatic Corps to the Kingdom of Cambodia,
• Leaders of political parties,
• Meeting attendees and my respected and beloved compatriots!

Today is a auspicious and profoundly meaningful day for every member of the Cambodian People’s Party, as well as for our compatriots across the country and abroad, who are enthusiastically celebrating the 74th anniversary of the founding of the Cambodian People’s Party, which is of the people,by the people, and for the people. The Party, originally named the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party founded on 28 June 1951, stemmed from the Cambodian people’s resistance movement against colonialism for national independence, in close solidarity with the resistance movements of the Vietnamese and Lao peoples, who shared a common enemy: the colonialists. From its inception to the present, the Party has always been closely tied with the people, travelling heroically a very long path through many historic stages for the great causes of the nation such as: the struggle to liberate the nation from colonialists; the protection of independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; the overthrow of the genocidal regime to salvage and revive the nation; the defense of the nation and restoration and rebuilding of the country; the building and maintenance of peace; and socio-economic development.

We hold this ceremony with a sense of deepest gratitude to our forebears, Party members, cadres, brave combatants, and Cambodian patriots everywhere who have made tremendous struggles and sacrifices at every stage for these noble causes, enabling our beloved nation and motherland to endure and flourish to this day. We will always remember this most precious example of heroism and commit ourselves with all our physical and mental might to protect our homeland and all national achievements forever.

On this great occasion, all of us would like to express our deepest loyalty and gratitude to His Majesty Preah Bat Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni, King of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Her Majesty Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, the revered Queen Mother of Cambodia, in freedom, dignity, and happiness. We would like to wish His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen Mother abundant good health, immense physical strength, brilliant intellect, and long lives of over a hundred years to remain a cool and peaceful shade for our homeland and all Cambodian people everywhere forever.

Distinguished Attendees, Beloved Compatriots!

Over these 74 years, it is a proven fact that the Cambodian People’s Party is the only political force that has shared joys and sorrows with the people in all circumstances, firmly upholding its objective and ideal of assembling the entire national force regardless of race, skin color, gender, language, religious belief, political affiliation, past, or social status, in order to build an independent, peaceful, free, democratic, neutral, and progressive Cambodia. Especially, after achieving the historic victory over the genocidal regime on 7 January 1979, the Party has led the country on a correct political path that aligns with the people’s aspirations and the actual situation, achieving the most precious accomplishments in all sectors in building and defending the homeland, enabling the entire Cambodian nation to live peacefully with honor and dignity within its peace, freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and healing the most painful wounds of the past.

Based on this reality, the people have clearly seen the nature and essence of the Cambodian People’s Party, which represents the will and interests of all social strata and which is a party with sufficient capability to protect the nation, build and maintain peace, foster socio-economic development, and continue leading the people towards a glorious future. This truth has been unequivocally established by the overwhelming support of the people for the Party in all past elections, both national and local Commune/Sangkat elections. This support has fully empowered the Party to implement its political platform successfully, leading Cambodia from one stage of its development to the next. At the same time, the people’s support has thwarted the sinister machinations of extremist opposition groups and certain bigoted circles who constantly seek every way to overthrow the Cambodian People’s Party through undemocratic means, which is completely contrary to the Constitution and the will of the people.

The Party’s success in leadership for over 46 years is thanks to the following major reasons:

1. The Party has political righteousness in all circumstances and situations.
2. The Party is always tiedwith the people, dares to think, dares to speak, dares to act, and dares to take responsibility, making the people love and trust the Party.
3. The Party has a strong organizational structure from top to bottom, with numerous members and clear, thorough working methods.
4. The Party has a loyal cadre of officials with competence, virtue, and morality.
5. The Party has paid meticulous attention to building generations of successors.
6. The Party has strong and unshaken internal solidarity and unity.

These reasons are most crucial for the Party’s continued leadership of the country to ensure long-term peace and development, which is the aspiration of the people.

Distinguished Attendees, Beloved Compatriots!

The glorious victory of the Cambodian People’s Party in the election of the National Assembly of the 7th legislative mandate fully enabled the Party to entrust leadership to the young generation of successors who the Party had most meticulously educated, trained, and groomed. Over the past nearly two years, the Royal Government for the 7th legislative mandate, led by Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet, has overcome many challenges and achieved proud accomplishments in all sectors, clearly reflecting the right decision of the Cambodian People’s Party.

Currently, the Kingdom of Cambodia is moving forward robustly on the path of peace, democracy, the rule of law, and development under the leadership of the Royal Government, which has a clear vision, firm resolve and commitment, and widespread support from the people. As a matter of fact, peace, political stability, and security are firmly protected; democracy, freedoms, and the rule of law are constantly strengthened and promoted; the national economy continues to grow sustainably; the people’s living conditions are stable; various reforms are implemented with strong will and effectiveness; and the social protection system is increasingly developed with quality. Recently, on 2-3 June 2025, the First Congress of the National Assembly and Senate was successfully held in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. This historic event demonstrated the process of democracy, the rule of law, and responsibility for the performance of duties by the legislative and executive bodies as well as the very close cooperation among relevant institutions, which respond to the aspirations of the voters. At the same time, Cambodia’s foreign relations and international cooperation have also been further strengthened and expanded.

In this positive development, we can proudly note the growth momentum of Cambodia’s economy in the first half of 2025. For example, macroeconomic stability is well maintained; inflation is low; the value of the Riel, the Cambodian currency, is stable; and international reserves continue to increase. The Cambodian economy is expected to achieve a growth rate of 5.2% in 2025. In the first 5 months of 2025, international trade volume reached US$25,503 million, an increase of 18%, of which exports amounted to US$12,014 million, an increase of 17.98% compared to the same period in 2024. Investment projects approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia in the first 5 months numbered 290 projects, an increase of 137 projects, with an investment capital of approximately US$4.2 billion, an increase of US$1.4 billion, and can create approximately 200,000 jobs. The number of enterprises and establishments increased from 44,798 to 45,386, with a total of 1.87 million workers and employees, an increase of approximately 50,000 people. Rice cultivation for the dry season of 2025 reached 907,889 hectares, an increase of 67,701 hectares over the previous year, while dry season rice harvest reached 4,254,508 tons, an increase of 418,000 tons or 10.90% over the previous year. Cambodia received 2.95 million international tourists, an increase of 11.7%, while national tourists numbered 13.16 million, an increase of 50% compared to the first 5 months of 2024. Simultaneously, the construction and expansion of physical infrastructure such as infrastructure along the border, irrigation systems, roads, bridges, electricity, canals, ports, airports, information and communication technology (ICT), etc., are being further accelerated. All these concrete results demonstrate that the Royal Government has been successfully implementing its commitments to the people.

Distinguished Attendees, Beloved Compatriots!

All the achievements we have made over the past 46 years since the victory over the Pol Pot genocidal regime have deep meaning for the long-term continuity and growth of our nation. Certainly, the road ahead is still long to fully realize our aspirations to build a civilized homeland and nation free from the reoccurrence of past the calamities. But time has already tested our strength, will, spirit, and capabilities. We are truly capable of overcoming all obstacles and difficulties ahead in building and protecting our homeland, based on strong national solidarity and unity.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my admiration and high appreciation to the Party committees at all levels, all sectors, all grassroots working groups, provinces, the Party’s youth organization, various mass organizations, officials, and Party members at all levels who stand firmly united around the Central Committee, dedicating all their physical and mental efforts to fulfill their duties with excellent results. On behalf of the Cambodian People’s Party, I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude to all compatriots everywhere, political parties, and other circles in society who have trusted and supported the leadership of the Cambodian People’s Party, fully empowering the Party to serve the nation. I would like to express my deepest thanks to all friendly countries, development partners, and international organizations that have assisted and supported the righteous and just cause of the Cambodian people, since the stage of national salvation from the genocidal regime up to the present.

In unwavering loyalty to its objectives and ideals, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Cambodian People’s Party, I would like to emphasize a few more points:

1. The Cambodian People’s Party steadfastly adheres to the objective of building the Kingdom of Cambodia to be a country with sustainable and inclusive economic development, with democracy deeply rooted in the nation, with guarantees for equality, equity, and social justice, where people have even better knowledge and employment, robust health, noble culture, solidarity, and decent living conditions, free from poverty, ignorance, and all forms of violence.
2. Righteous political leadership is the main factor for victory. Therefore, the Party must constantly strive to develop its capacities in all aspects, in terms of both understanding and practice, to respond to the demands of the national situation, especially the constantly evolving socio-economic and international situations, while adhering to the path of liberal multi-party democracy, promoting patriotic consciousness, and strengthening and expanding foreign relations to ensure the correct formulation of political platform, principles, policies, and decisions on all issues.
3. The people are the decisive factor for victory, both in the struggle for national liberation and in building and protecting the homeland. The people are the foundation that supports political leadership in the nation. The actual history of Cambodia over the past four decades clearly confirms the above point: if the people understand, trust, support, and participate, then the Party can achieve its cause. Therefore, all Party organizations at all levels and in all sectors must be loyal to the people, target their service towards the people, rely on the people, and learn from the people.
4. Party committees at all levels, and every Party member, must firmly grasp the six reasons for the Party’s success to correctly orient their activitiesto further build and strengthen the Party, implement the political platform, and implement the Royal Government’s Pentagonal Strategy in line with their roles and duties. Disregarding all these reasons will negatively impact the implementation of the political platform and the people’s trust in the Party’s leadership. Such inertia must be overcome and resolved quickly wherever it exists.
5. The good deeds of Party officials at all levels and in all sectors are the Party’s winning strategy in all circumstances. It is through this cadre of officials that the people understand the Party, trust the Party, and actively participate in implementing the Party’s political platform. Therefore, Party officials must be strong and clean, full of competence, virtue, and morality. The reality has shown that the people need the Party’s leadership role and support the Party, but the people are not happy at all with the misconduct of some officials. Therefore, every official must do only good deeds, not do anything that affects the rights and interests of the people, and must not behave as masters of the people.
6. National solidarity is the lifeblood of the nation. With solidarity, the nation lives; without solidarity, the nation will perish. History has clearly shown this to be the case. The Cambodian People’s Party, which has raised the banner of great national solidarity at all stages, will continue to fulfill this duty with the highest responsibility for the nation’s destiny, under the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia and its motto: Nation, Religion, King.

In this spirit, the Cambodian People’s Party continues to implement a realistic culture of dialogue with various political parties and other circles in society to create harmony, strengthen national unity, and foster democracy. Democracy, which respects the diversity of views and opinions, provides an effective means of resolving social and political issues based on the rule of law and national reconciliation. To that end, the Cambodian People’s Party has cooperated and formed an alliance with 28 political parties, respecting the independence and autonomy of each party, on equal terms and equal rights, in order to gather patriotic forces and maintain long-term peace, political stability, and development.

• Full peace and complete national and territorial unity are exceptional achievements that we have arduously attained through the Win-Win Policy, having gone through struggles, patience, and resistance against many negative factors. However, peace is still threatened by a small group of extremists who try to break up society, fill it with anger, confusion, and hatred, with the ultimate aim to overthrow the Royal Government through violent means, contrary to the Constitution and democratic principles. Therefore, we must thank peace, join together to preserve and protect peace, and join together to eradicate extremist movements from Cambodian society, not allowing them to destroy peace. I also take this opportunity to further stress that those who continue extremist activities that violate the Constitution and existing laws must cease their activities, otherwise, they will not escape from the long arm of the law.
• This unfortunate country of Cambodia has suffered from foreign invasions, aggressions, wars, and genocide; was embargoed and isolated; and insulted in the past. Now, Cambodia has risen again on equal footing with other countries. We desperately need peace, friendship, cooperation, and development. We have no unfriendly policy or stance towards any nation. On this point, I want to emphasize that the unlawful attack by the Thai troops against the Cambodian troops on 28 May, in the Mom Bei (Emerald Triangle) area within Cambodia’s territory, is a very grave violation of Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This event reflects the repetition of history, despite our goodwill to resolve the issue. In response to this situation, the Cambodian People’s Party fully supports the firm and clear stance of the Royal Government to take the issues of Ta Moan Thom Temple, Ta Moan Toch Temple, Ta Krabei Temple, and the Mom Bei area to be resolved at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and supports the Royal Government’s stance to resolve other border issues besides these four points peacefully in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding of 2000 between the two countries.

In the past, Cambodia has lost so much of its territory due to foreign invasion and land grab. We are absolutely determined to protect and preserve forever the current territorial integrity, which has remained after the colonial era, without losing even a tiny piece of it. I would like to appeal to all compatriots to be united with the Royal Government, to be closely tied with and provide support to the armed forces to further strengthen the people’s national defense base. I also take this opportunity to express my respect for the heroism of the military and police forces who are fulfilling their duties to protect territorial integrity along the border with the neighboring countries with the utmost dedication and resolve.

In closing, I would like to wish Samdech Preah Akka Moha Sangkhareach Thibadei, Samdech Preah Sangkhareach, Preah Reachea Kana, all venerable monks, Samdech, Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Lok Chumteav, senior leaders of the Islamic community, leaders of the Christian community, national and international distinguished guests, meeting attendees, and all compatriots both inside and outside of the country, to be filled with the five Buddhist blessings: longevity, beauty, health, strength, and wisdom, without fail.

Thank you!