Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised ¥19.2 billion in low-interest loans to Cambodia to improve a major highway.
Together with the opening in April of a Japan-funded bridge spanning the Mekong River, the improvement of National Road No. 5 between Phnom Penh and the Thai border is expected to boost regional connectivity and stimulate economic development by increasing transportation capacity and efficiency in the Mekong region.
"By investing in such high-quality infrastructure, Japan would like to contribute to Cambodia's efforts to significantly strengthen connectivity with neighboring countries and achieve sustainable growth," Abe was quoted by the Foreign Ministry as telling Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday in Sendai, where a U.N. disaster risk conference is underway.
The two leaders hailed the completion of the Tsubasa Bridge, a 2,200-meter suspension bridge in Neak Loeung that local residents say will remove a traffic bottleneck between the capital and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
"The Tsubasa Bridge is an important bridge that connects Mekong countries," Hun Sen was quoted by the ministry as saying, adding that he "appreciates Japan's assistance for National Road No. 5."
The road and the bridge, the name of which means bird wings in Japanese, are part of the Southern Economic Corridor, a transportation route linking Ho Chi Minh City to Dawei in southeastern Myanmar via Bangkok. Governments and businesses expect it to serve as a major industrial artery in the Mekong region.
Japan has been promoting ties with Cambodia and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where barriers to the flow of people, goods and money across the borders of its 10 member states will be lowered when a more integrated ASEAN Economic Community is launched at the end of this year.