On May 25th, 2020, Pan Xinchun, Secretary-General of China Oceanic Development Foundation, and Mies Sopan, Director of Nature Conservation Management Department of Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on "Promoting Spatial Planning Advancing Blue Economy" (the "MOU") in Beijing and Phnom Penh, respectively. China Oceanic Development Foundation and Ministry of Environment of Cambodia have launched officially a practical cooperation on coastal zone, marine spatial planning and blue economy.

The MOU defines that the two parties will cooperate in the fields of improvement, revision and implementation of Cambodia's marine spatial planning, preparation and implementation of Cambodia's coastal zone planning, and capacity building of marine governance. The MOU designates the National Ocean Technology Center and the Marine and Coastal Zone Protection Department of Cambodia as implementing agencies, responsible for the concrete implementation of the cooperation projects.

China-Cambodia cooperation in marine spatial planning has a solid foundation. In April 2019, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia with his entourage has visited the Foundation. The two sides has reached a consensus on cooperation intention and on signing cooperation documents in the fields of marine spatial planning implementation, coastal zone planning compilation, marine professional personnel training, marine ecological restoration and marine environmental protection. In December 2019, at the invitation of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, the Foundation has appointed the international marine spatial planning team of the National Ocean Technology Center to Cambodia to discuss the terms of cooperation and planning tasks. After several communications between the two sides, the MOU has been signed and successfully exchanged between the both places. With the severe global COVID-19 epidemic situation, the two sides actively innovate the cooperation mode and realize the non-contact document signing, which is a beneficial exploration to continuously promote the international cooperation project of "Promoting Spatial Planning Advancing Blue Economy" under the current situation.

China Oceanic Development Foundation is committed to promoting China's marine planning concepts and programs in Silk Road countries enabling China's spatial planning and industrial capital to "go global". The signing of the MOU is conducive to deepening China-Cambodia maritime cooperation on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and promoting the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative".