The Associated Press
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni kicked off a state visit to France on Monday with a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.
A dinner at the president's Elysee Palace was to follow the talks.
During the three-day visit, the king was also to meet with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the heads of upper and lower houses of the French parliament and Paris' mayor.
In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry called the visit — which comes a decade after a state visit by Sihamoni's father, retired King Norodom Sihanouk — "a sign of the continuity and close ties of friendship and cooperation between France and Cambodia."
France ruled the southeast Asian nation for nearly 90 years, placing Sihanouk on the throne as a figurehead in 1941. But the king rebelled, launching a self-proclaimed "royal crusade" that led to independence for Cambodia on Nov. 9, 1953.
Sihamoni, who succeeded his father in 2004, spent much of his adult life in France, where he taught classical dance from 1981-2000, according to his official web site.
A dinner at the president's Elysee Palace was to follow the talks.
During the three-day visit, the king was also to meet with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the heads of upper and lower houses of the French parliament and Paris' mayor.
In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry called the visit — which comes a decade after a state visit by Sihamoni's father, retired King Norodom Sihanouk — "a sign of the continuity and close ties of friendship and cooperation between France and Cambodia."
France ruled the southeast Asian nation for nearly 90 years, placing Sihanouk on the throne as a figurehead in 1941. But the king rebelled, launching a self-proclaimed "royal crusade" that led to independence for Cambodia on Nov. 9, 1953.
Sihamoni, who succeeded his father in 2004, spent much of his adult life in France, where he taught classical dance from 1981-2000, according to his official web site.
1 comment:
Yes! The tie between Cambodia and the French are so close that is why the Khmer Krom people are still living at the Vietcong feet!
The French need to admit their past mistake regarding the Khmer Krom people! Unless the French want to see the Vietcong contiue to slave the Khmer Krom people! What the French did was against their religion and high culture!
God will condem the French!
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