Cambodia and Myanmar have agreed to strengthen ties by focusing on both nations’ tourism and education sectors, but stopped short of discussing the latter’s widespread abuse and persecution of the Rohingya minority. 
 
In a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Myanmar’s President U Htin Kyaw, the pair discussed establishing tour packages between Siem Reap, home of World Heritage listed Angkor Wat, as well Myanmar’s Bagan, a city with the densest concentration of Buddhist temples on the banks of the Irrawaddy river. 
 
The two heads of state also mooted the idea of establishing exchange programs and scholarships but stopped short of solidifying plans. 
 
“He [Mr. Htin Kyaw] asked the tourism ministers of both countries to cooperate and organize a tourism package, especially between Siem Reap and Bagan,” Mr. Hun Sen’s assistant Eang Sophalleth said after the meeting. 
 
According to Mr. Sophalleth, Mr. Hun Sen agreed to Myanmar’s suggestion saying that it would improve the cultural awareness between both countries. 
 
However, according to Information Minister Khieu Kanhanrith, the two leaders only briefly discussed the issue of the Rohingya people, with Mr. Hun Sen brushing it off as Myanmar’s “internal issue” which did not warrant Asean’s intervention. 
 
“We do not agree with the internationalization of the Rohingya issue, and according to the Asean Charter, no member has the right to interfere in the sovereignty of other member states,” the Bangkok Post quoted Mr. Kanhanrith as saying in a Facebook post. 
 
The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on Friday released a report detailing the brutal oppression faced by Myanmar’s Rohingya people, with multiple accounts of military officers gang-raping women and indiscriminately murdering everyone from adult men to toddlers as well as burning down homes. 
 
The Muslim minority in the nation’s Rakhine state have been described as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is Myanmar’s state counsellor after a landslide victory in 2015, has been facing fierce criticism for remaining silent on the matter.  
 
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak last month condemned the persecution of the Rohingya and said that Asean nations had an obligation to speak out against what the UN has since called “crimes against humanity.”