PHNOM PENH, April 27: Pakistan's Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen on Monday signed agreements on combatting terrorism and boosting investment after holding bilateral talks.

Mr Jamali arrived earlier on Monday on a two-day official visit to the kingdom, the first by a premier from Pakistan.

"We are very happy and pleased with the meeting ... Pakistan and Cambodia are very good friends, so we will try our best to help our friends," Mr Jamali told reporters after the talks.

Mr Hun Sen said Cambodia "maintains the same stance" in supporting Pakistan's bid to join the grouping, the only security forum in East Asia. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to allow Pakistan to join the 23-member grouping in June last year at a meeting in Cambodia, but the move was blocked by India, which raised a procedural issue.

Mr Jamali said Pakistan would "very soon" open an embassy in Phnom Penh to carry out services now performed in Bangkok. He said that during the talks Pakistan offered Cambodia a $10 million low-interest rate loan and also planned to provide scholarships to Cambodian students to study in Islamabad.

The two countries formally agreed to cooperate in fighting terrorism and transnational crimes, as well as to promote and protect investment between the two countries. On Wednesday Jamali is scheduled to meet with Cambodia's acting head of state Chea Sim before travelling to Bangkok.

DINNER: Meanhile, Mr Jamali speaking at a dinner hosted in his honour by Mr Hun Sen on Tuesday said that more people to people contacts between Pakistan and Cambodia would encourage closer business ties.