PHNOM PENH, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has granted scholarships to 181 Cambodian students to pursue their higher education in China for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo and Cambodian Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Hang Chuon Naron jointly presented the scholarships to the recipients on Monday.
The students will study bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees in various Chinese universities in majors of civil engineering, business administration, health, international trade, finance, economics and international relations, among others.
Xiong said: "China has always paid high attention to supporting Cambodia in human resources development, which is the key factor for socio-economic development."
By 2016, China had provided more than 2,000 scholarships to Cambodian students, the ambassador said.
Hang Chuon Naron expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for granting the scholarships which are crucial to developing human capital for Cambodia.
"The scholarships truly reflect China's attention to developing education sector in Cambodia," he said.
The minister encouraged the scholarship recipients to learn about China's culture, saying that culture played a vital role in deepening people-to-people bond.
Pok Litho, who is 24 years old and one of the scholarship recipients, said: "I applied for scholarship to study in China because I like China, and I love the glorious culture of this country."