AKP Phnom Penh, September 18, 2025 --

“To uphold the ASEAN Spirit, we should avoid projecting our domestic issues onto our neighbours. We must refrain from using economic coercion,” remarked President of the National Assembly (NA) of Cambodia, Samdech Maha Rathsapheathika Thipadei Khuon Sudary.

At the first plenary session of the 46th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sept. 18, Samdech Khuon Sudary underlined the ASEAN’s shared responsibility to build bridges of trust and cooperation, not walls of division or barbed wire to divide the nations.

“We must build the border of peace, friendship, solidarity, and shared prosperity,” she said. “Strengthening cross-border economic cooperation and people-to-people ties form solid foundations of lasting peace, not barriers or walls. We must stop the blame game.”

Samdech Khuon Sudary also stressed the importance of parliamentary diplomacy for peace, highlighting that AIPA is playing an increasingly relevant role in enhancing inter-parliamentary dialogue on peace and conflict resolution.

To stay relevant and credible, she said ASEAN must invest more efforts in confidence building measures, preventive diplomacy, and conflict resolution. She emphasised that ASEAN Unity and Centrality are central to its members’ survival.

“We must stand firm on our values and principles. We must never tolerate ‘might is right’ and ‘the weak must suffer in silence’,” she concluded.

By C. Nika