Cambodia has defended the forcible deportation of asylum seekers at the same time it is negotiating with Australia over arrangements to resettle refugees.
Deputy prime minister Sar Kheng was in Canberra on Thursday to sign a general immigration cooperation agreement with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
Cambodia has agreed to take refugees processed on Nauru, with Australia meeting all costs of resettlement and stumping up an extra $40 million in foreign aid.
While it is a signatory to the UN refugee convention, human rights advocates have accused Cambodia of using refugees as bargaining chips.
It returned 40 Montagnard asylum seekers to Vietnam this year without hearing their protection claims.
Mr Kheng said Cambodia was exercising two laws at the same time.
"If we are able to identify those individuals who are illegal immigrants then we implement the immigration law, whereas (if we) identify those who are refugees we implement the convention," he told reporters through a translator.
The International Organization for Migration will help refugees find housing, jobs, schooling and health care in Cambodia.
A Cambodian delegation is on Nauru this week talking about Khmer lifestyle and services but it's not yet clear when the first batch of refugees will be resettled.
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