Cambodia

Border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia during 2025 have once again drawn international attention to Cambodia. The tensions stem from a long-standing dispute over the 800-kilometre colonial-era border demarcation, with the two countries contesting the area surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple. These hostilities have brought renewed focus to the country’s vulnerabilities, which are still shaped by the conflicts of previous decades.

Cambodia has experienced a gradual yet significant economic recovery, accompanied by a reduction in poverty levels during the first decades of the 2000s. However, this progress was severely challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the launch of the Pentagonal Strategy Phase -I_(2023-2028), Cambodia’s development strategy, the Government has set out an agenda aimed at strengthening economic growth and employment, significantly reducing poverty, enhancing governance, and achieving sustainable socio-economic development.

Italian Cooperation in Cambodia was particularly active during the first decade of the 2000s, implementing initiatives focused on the protection and promotion of the human rights of trafficking victims, assistance to migrant children subjected to sexual abuse, maternal and child health, and the preservation of archaeological and cultural heritage. In this latter field, Italian Cooperation contributed to the restoration of the Angkor Wat archaeological site.

Italian Cooperation has continued its engagement in the country, consolidating dialogue with Cambodian institutions and promoting initiatives aimed at sustainable development, institutional strengthening, and regional cooperation.

Currently, Cambodia is a partner country in a trilateral statistics initiative together with Vietnam and Laos. The project provides technical assistance for the creation and/or updating of environmental indicators, supporting the production of statistical measures related to extreme events and disasters, climate change adaptation, territorial issues, urban environmental management, and water statistics. The initiative aims at strengthening sectoral governance by developing reliable and up-to-date statistical information to support evidence-based policymaking on environmental issues across Southeast Asia.

Furthermore, Italian Cooperation has renewed its commitment to the field of humanitarian demining and unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk reduction, contributing to national and international efforts aimed at improving community safety and fostering sustainable socio-economic development.

Within the framework of the Italy-ASEAN Development Partnership, Cambodia participates in two regional initiatives focused respectively on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and on climate-resilient agriculture. These initiatives foster regional cooperation in the areas of food security, environmental sustainability, and rural development.

The Kingdom of Cambodia has been a member of ASEAN since 1999.

Cambodia’s position in the Human Development Index (HDI): 151st out of 193 countries.

 

Learn more:

Cambodia World Bank Country Overview