The prime minister of Kuwait has headed to Cambodia for talks aimed at increasing the levels of cooperation between the two nation's oil and gas sectors, it has been confirmed.

Recent discoveries off the coast of the south-east Asian country have led the Cambodian government to establish a target of 2011 for the first oil to be produced from offshore sites.

However, the oil ministry is keen to secure outside help to develop its new industry, particularly from oil-rich nations such as the Gulf states, prompting foreign minister Hor Namhong to welcome prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabbah for the talks, which he is confident will be "fruitful".

Though energy cooperation will be top of the agenda for the talks, the two parties are also expected to discuss trade and investment as they look to achieve mutual economic benefits.

The Cambodian government recently funded the development of a new airport in Sihanoukville, 240 km from the capital and the location of the new oil fields, as it looks to replace tourism with oil as the country's most lucrative industry.

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