New agreement allows Cambodia to implement Singapore’s digital govt products

SINGAPORE – The Cambodian public service is set to get Singapore-made digital tools to carry out its work, with an agreement signed between Singapore and Cambodia on June 18.

The memorandum of understanding on digital government will allow Cambodia to implement Singapore’s open-source digital government products.

Examples include verification tools for government-issued certificates, an electronic form builder and a URL shortener with anti-phishing and anti-tracking capabilities

The agreement was signed by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary and Cambodian Minister of Post and Telecommunications Chea Vandeth at the Istana on June 18. It was witnessed by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

The Cambodian leader is in Singapore from June 18 for a two-day official visit.

This is the latest high-level exchange involving Singapore’s newly minted leader, who also met Bruneian and Malaysian leaders in the past month.

In conjunction with Mr Hun Manet’s visit, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the National Bank of Cambodia announced the start of the Financial Transparency Corridor Initiative.

The agreement on the initiative was signed in July 2023, and aims to catalyse increased cross-border-related financial services between small and medium-sized enterprises of both countries. The initial batch of participating financial institutions is currently being onboarded, with the first live financing transactions set to begin in the second half of 2024.

Earlier in the day, Mr Hun Manet received a ceremonial welcome at the Istana and called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

During their meeting, President Tharman and Mr Hun Manet reaffirmed the warm and longstanding ties between Singapore and Cambodia, as both countries look towards the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year.

They discussed strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, financial transparency, and food and water security.