(Phnom Penh) On the morning of December 30, 2025, after meeting the Department of Planning and Projects of the Civil Society Alliance Forum under the Office of the Council of Ministers, the technical team implementing the China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) Panda Pack project presented its achievements in 2025, made with the forum’s cooperation and coordination.
Zhang Shenyue, responsible for implementing the Panda schoolbag project, said CFRD donated 21,600 packages in 2025, bringing the total provided to Cambodia since 2018 to 203,900. Panda Pack is supported by Alibaba Philanthropy, pooling charitable contributions from millions of Chinese people. Each package contains 88 school and daily-use items, and its design reflects Chinese and Cambodian cultural characteristics. It meets children’s learning and daily needs while also substantially promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and Cambodia.
Chen Yixian, responsible for the bicycle project, highlighted that the bicycles donated to Cambodia were gifts from Hello Bike, with the COSCO Shipping Charity Foundation responsible for cross-border transport. The donation brings together care from several parties so that children can have bicycles as soon as possible, reducing their travel time to school. Cambodia received 2,500 donated bicycles in 2025, bringing the total since 2023 to 7,524.
Wu Peng, head of CFRD’s international development department, praised the efforts of Kem Rath Viseth, chairman of the Civil Society Alliance Forum’s board. He described the forum as the closest and most trusted partner in implementing Panda Pack, and the cooperation as both material assistance and a long-term investment in rural pupils’ capabilities. He added that Panda Pack 2026 would be something rural Cambodian pupils could look forward to and a source of hope. Citing interviews with several recipients, he said they were full of hope for their future studies, with smiles reflecting dreams of becoming strong pillars contributing to Cambodian society’s development along a path of modernisation in the digital age.
Source: Club of Cambodian Journalists
Adapted by: Chinda Titi
