Phnom Penh (FN), May 8 – The Asian Vision Institute (AVI), represented by Chheng Kimlong, President of AVI, and the Information, Research and Analysis Group (IRAG) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFA.IC), represented by Ney Samol, Chief of IRAG, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish and enhance cooperation on the basis of common interests on "Geopolitical Research and Analysis".

The signing ceremony, held on 6 May 2024 at Jaya Suites Hotel in Phnom Penh, was presided over by Sok Siphana, Chairman Emeritus of AVI, Honorable Noritada Morita, Chairman of the Advisory Board of AVI, Un Kheang, Secretary of State of MFA.IC and Khy Sovanratana, Secretary of State of MFA.IC.

The MoU signing ceremony was followed by a roundtable dialogue on ASEAN Geopolitical Updates 2024-2025 presented by a high-level panel of experts and attended by about 30 scholar participants.

During the MoU ceremony, both sides expressed strong confidence that this cooperation would serve the common purposes and contribute to producing in-depth analysis on a variety of regional and global issues and affairs. Through this collaboration, the two institutions will bring together experts, talented researchers, and young scholars, to provide policy recommendations, and also to produce a comprehensive analysis in geopolitical and geoeconomic trends in the region and beyond. In essence, the AVI-IRAG collaboration and partnership covers a wide range of research analysis on such topics as geopolitics, economic development, social policy, environment and political analysis in AMS, Mekong sub-region and Asia Pacific.

The AVI-IRAG cooperation also represents a high-quality model of think tank cooperation in geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic research and in response to the ongoing, growing tensions among major and middle powers. In fact, the MoU signing forms an enhanced institutionalisation of cooperation to produce on-demand research articles focusing on geopolitical, geoeconomic, geosecurity, environment, digitalisation, and other topics of regional and global interests. Both parties expressed positive outlooks and stronger commitment to deepen their cooperation and partnership on significant research and analytic in order to foster long-term cooperative partnership.
=FRESH NEWS