Hor Namhong to Leave for US on September 22

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Written by DAP NEWS -- Wednesday, 09 September 2009

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong on Tuesday said that he will leave for the US on September 22 to attend an annual summit of the UN Security Council in New York. He will have a special talk with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

“I will leave for the US on September 22, but the date for talks with Hillary Clinton is undecided as the two parties are considering to select a suitable time for the meeting,” Hor Namhong told reporters following an aid signing ceremony at the Foreign Ministry.

“The bilateral talks are mainly to promote and push for more cooperation between the two parties,” he confirmed. Hor Namhong told US Ambassador to Cambodia Carol A. Rodley that Cambodia and US cooperation is developing. “Especially, the US Government decided to withdraw Cambodia out of its trade black list in June,” he said.

The lifting of the trade black allows US investors in Cambodia to borrow money from US banks,.

“The news funding brings to over US$250 million that the US has provided in support of health and education in Cambodia since 1999,” Hor Namhong claimed. But Cambodia owes the US Government more than US$300 million dating from the 1970s Lon Nol regime. The Cambodian PM on Monday this week asked the US Ambassador to Cambodia for the US Government to eliminate the debt.

“We expect that all doubt being eliminated in the upcoming time and we hope that this agreement will benefits to Cambodian making effort,” John Johnson of the US Embassy told DAP News Cambodia on Monday.

The amendment to the first agree- ment signed on Tuesday consists of US$31.6 million in grant funds to achieve health objectives. Funds will be used to promote a variety of activities to reduce the transmission and impact of HIV/AIDS’ ongoing education program, which is improving the quality and relevance of basis education and increasing access to schooling for all children, including minorities, people with disabilitie, and the very poor. Activities will also focus on reducing school dropout and repetition rates through improvements in teaching quality, school-management training, and measuring student academic achievement, according to a US Embassy press release on September 4.

The US has taken over the rotating presidency of the 15-member UN Security Council for the month of September. US President Barack Obama and other top US political figures will be at the world body this month to highlight issues of importance to the US, according to US news wires.

The new session of the UN Security Council “will focus on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament broadly and not on any particular counties. Key areas to be highlighted will include arms control and nuclear disarmament, and strengthening the NPT [Nuclear Non-Prolif-eration Treaty] regime, and denying and disrupting trafficking in and the securing of nuclear materials,” US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters.