July marks the 70th anniversary of cooperation between the United States and the Kingdom of Cambodia. Since July 11, 1950 when diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, the United States and Cambodia have worked together to improve the lives of the Cambodian people.
At times, relations between the countries were cool, due to regional armed conflict.
Nonetheless, the United States continued to support the Cambodian people, including through ASEAN's efforts in the 1980s to achieve a political settlement in Cambodia, which came to fruition in 1991 with the signing of a comprehensive settlement at the Paris Conference.
When the democratically elected Royal Government of Cambodia was formed on September 24, 1993, the United States and the Kingdom of Cambodia immediately re-established full diplomatic relations.
The United States continues to support democratic institutions and promote respect for human rights in Cambodia. The two countries work together to increase trade, and to contribute to regional and global security.
The United States supports Cambodia’s efforts to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, improve nutrition for mothers and children, eliminate human trafficking and corruption, address environmental degradation, better manage natural resources, and foster economic development.
Today, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Government has so far provided $11 million to help Cambodia’s medical and public health response to the disease, and to mitigate the secondary impacts resulting from the pandemic.
The United States has invested almost $3 billion dollars over the past three decades to assist Cambodia recovering from conflict, said U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy in an interview obtained by the Voice of America’s Cambodian Service. “I think we have seen results of this partnership:”
“Economic development has increased and relatively stable and peaceful. There has been some justice for past atrocities, which is very important for the rule of law and contending with history, as the country moves ahead into the future. We also see, I think, a lot of return on our contributions to specific areas like education, public health, the environment, law enforcement, de-mining and other humanitarian assistance area.”
“The U.S. Government,” he said recently, “is committed to continuing its support to the Cambodian people towards sustainable, inclusive, and equitable socio-economic development.”
