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Viet Nam Customs and Cambodia Customs Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

In recent years, Viet Nam Customs and Cambodia Customs have continued to implement bilateral cooperation activities to maintain, consolidate, and enhance mutual support relations in customs management. This aims to facilitate trade while strengthening coordination in exchanging information to combat smuggling, commercial fraud, and other customs offenses, ensuring compliance with customs laws within each country's jurisdiction.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Finance of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in the Customs Field, signed on October 4, 2019, in Ha Noi, serves as a solid legal foundation for expanding the scope of administrative assistance, simplifying procedures, and enhancing mutual support. The Memorandum includes provisions on the exchange of customs control information to respond promptly to the exchange and processing of hot news regarding suspicious subjects, goods, containers, conveyances, and routes related to smuggling and commercial fraud between the two countries.

Cooperation mechanisms between Viet Nam Customs and Cambodia Customs maintained over many years include: Director General Conference, Experience exchange between Central Customs units, and Local-level cooperation.

Cooperation in anti-smuggling investigation

One of the key and overarching contents of bilateral cooperation between Viet Nam Customs and Cambodia Customs is cooperation in anti-smuggling investigation. Currently, information exchange and anti-smuggling investigation assistance between Viet Nam Customs and Cambodia Customs are carried out under the framework of the Memorandum between the Ministry of Finance of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in the Customs Field signed on October 4, 2019. Specific activities include information exchange for investigations into illegal cross-border movement of goods, commercial fraud, border intellectual property rights infringement, anti-counterfeiting, anti-narcotics, illegal trade of wild fauna and flora and products derived from species under CITES appendices, anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism in the customs field, and requests for investigation and verification assistance.

Cooperation between local customs units sharing the common border

Regional Customs units sharing the common land border between the two countries have continued to maintain cooperative relations, contributing to building solidarity and friendship, preserving local political security and social order, and creating favorable conditions for trade exchanges, import-export of goods, and tourism development.

Customs forces, together with relevant border forces including Border Guard, Police, and border commune authorities, organize and attend joint meetings with Cambodia's border gate management forces to inform each other about political security, social order, and safety in each border area, the status of handling illegal border crossers, landmark management, and immigration procedure processing. On holidays and New Year occasions, both sides organize exchange activities to strengthen friendly relations among forces.

Some Border Gate Customs Sub-departments periodically hold meetings and exchange information on the situation at border gates, notify policies and procedures on import-export goods, baggage, and border-crossing vehicles, coordinate anti-smuggling and commercial fraud operations, and jointly conduct publicity campaigns for border residents to understand export and import policies and procedures.

The Customs Authorities of both countries maintain proper alignment of working hours at border gates from 6:00 to 18:00, including holidays and weekends, promptly resolving arising issues to prevent congestion and backlog of goods and transport vehicles at border gates.

Director General Meeting

The Director General Meeting is an important high-level event maintained biennially on a rotational basis between the two sides for many years. The 2026 Director General Conference was held on October 28, 2026, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Information regarding the Meeting is as follows:

At the invitation of H.E. Kun Nhem, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister, Director General of the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia, a delegation from the General Department of Viet Nam Customs led by Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, Director General of Viet Nam Customs, paid a working visit to Cambodia Customs from October 27 to 29, 2026.

The two DGs sign Working Minutes

During the visit, Viet Nam Customs and the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia organized the Viet Nam – Cambodia Customs Director General Conference on October 28, 2026, at the headquarters of the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Conference was co-chaired by Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, Director General of Viet Nam Customs, and H.E. Kun Nhem, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister, Director General of the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia. The Conference aimed to consolidate and enhance cooperative relations and mutual assistance between the two Customs authorities, towards facilitating and securing Viet Nam – Cambodia trade.

Group Photos

At the Conference, both sides informed each other about the latest developments of each side, key tasks for the coming period, evaluated the results of cooperative activities in the past period, and discussed the Cooperation Plan for 2027 and 2028.

Both sides highly appreciated the efforts of Customs units in mutual administrative assistance, facilitating cross-border trade, anti-smuggling cooperation, and supporting each other at international customs forums.

Regarding future cooperation orientations, both sides affirmed to continue working closely in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Finance of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in the Customs Field signed on October 4, 2019, in Ha Noi, Viet Nam; annually update contact points at all levels of each side to ensure smooth communication; strengthen cooperation in management and facilitation of cross-border trade and transit cargo, focusing on information exchange for risk assessment of import, export, transit goods, and transit vehicles; continue close cooperation in preventing and combating smuggling, commercial fraud, illicit trafficking of narcotics, and other illegal goods across the border; and adopt the 2027-2028 Cooperation Plan.

At the conclusion of the Conference, both sides signed the Minutes of Meeting as a basis for implementing cooperative activities in the subsequent period.

The next Viet Nam – Cambodia Customs DG Conference is expected to be organized in 2028 in Viet Nam.