Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah arrived Sunday for trade talks in Phnom Penh, where he was expected to discuss Cambodia's fledgling oil and gas industry.
The Kuwaiti premier and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will on Monday sign agreements on trade and investment, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said, while energy co-operation will also top the agenda.
"During the talk, we will raise oil exploration co-operation ... co-operation in the oil and gas sector," Hor Namhong told reporters at the airport, where about 600 onlookers waved Kuwaiti flags in light rain.
Hor Namhong added that he hoped the visit would bring "fruitful" co-operation between Cambodia and oil-rich Kuwait. Cambodia expects to begin oil production of its offshore fields in 2011, following the discovery of oil in 2005 by US energy giant Chevron. Cambodia was quickly feted as the region's next potential petro-state, sitting on an estimated hundreds of millions of barrels of crude, and three times as much natural gas in six blocks located off its coast.