by Mao Pengfei, Nguon Sovan

PHNOM PENH, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved "enormous development" in the past 70 years and the progress has benefited the whole world, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong told Xinhua in a recent interview.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"I have visited Beijing and some provinces in China since the 1970s," Namhong said. "If compared then and now, it can be said that it's different like the sky and earth."

"China's enormous development in all fields has not only benefited the people of China but also helped the people in the whole world," he said.

Namhong noted China has provided developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with a lot of assistance and China's economy is a base for supporting the global economy.

Due to China's tremendous development, its global role today is very important and indispensable for tackling issues in the world, he said.

Namhong said he has seen China's rapid development in all fields in the past seven decades, particularly in economy, people's livelihood improvement, poverty reduction and technological advancement.

Noting that China has become the world's second largest economy, he believes that China's economy will keep growing robustly in the future.

Thanks to longstanding friendship and fraternal cooperation between Cambodia and China, Namhong is strongly confident that the bilateral ties will be further deepened in the future.

"I think the relations between our two countries under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the comprehensive strategic partnership will be rooted deeper and deeper," he said.