PHNOM PENH - Cambodia inaugurated the first water quality monitoring station with China's aid on Monday near the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in the Diamond Island town.

Cambodian Environment Minister Say Samal and Bai Chunli, president of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), jointly unveiled the station.

Samal expressed his profound gratitude to China for the donation, saying that the first water quality monitoring station was vital to inspecting the quality of water in the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in Phnom Penh.

"As our population becomes bigger, our city becomes bigger, the water quality monitoring station is very important to diagnose the quality of water in the rivers," he said.

Bai said the station was part of the China-Cambodia joint lab for water and environment research and it marked a new milestone of collaboration between the two countries in the fields of water and environment.

Before the inauguration ceremony, Samal and Bai also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on environment cooperation, which would focus on environment protection, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, and natural resources management for sustainable development.