Roundup: U.S. resumption of direct funding for Cambodian government confirmed
The United States Embassy on Wednesday once again confirmed the resumption of direct funding for the Cambodian government after a decade of hiatus, but said conditions will be attached.
One of the conditions is that the Cambodian government has transparent financial accounting and procurement integrity systems for receiving U.S. aid, Erin Soto, country director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told reporters.
The embassy confirmed on Feb. 22 that U.S. President George W. Bush has signed a congressional appropriations resolution for the 2007 fiscal year that "contains no restrictions on direct U.S. government funding of Cambodian government activities."
"The embassy here definitely sees that the bilateral relationship has been growing much closer and deeper over the past few years," an embassy spokesman told reporters on Wednesday in regard of the resumption, which came two weeks after a U.S. Navy frigate visited the kingdom's sea port of Sihanoukville, the first such visit in the past 30 years.
On Feb. 23, the Cambodian Daily quoted U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli as saying that the lift of the decade-old ban "is one more step toward broadening and deepening bilateral relations" and "our hope is to have more normal relations and draw Cambodia closer to the community of nations."
He praised Cambodia for its cooperation on anti-terrorism issues, but confirmed that the policy shift has not been driven only by the exigencies of the war on terror.
Roland Eng, Cambodian Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2005, told the paper that "we are turning a new page in the relations between the U.S. and Cambodia. This is very positive. Cambodia more than ever deserves this move. Since the Sept. 11 event, we have never refused anything that the U.S. has requested. "
According to U.S. embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle, under the terms of the 2007 U.S. budget resolution passed on Feb. 15, Cambodia will likely receive about 56 million U.S. dollars this fiscal year, without any restrictions on direct government assistance.
Official statistics showed that in 2006, the U.S. channeled altogether 54.9 million U.S. dollars of aid to the NGOs in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries that relies on an average of 500 million U.S. dollars of foreign aid each year and ranked 151 among the 163 countries in the 2006 corruption perception index of Transparency International.
Meanwhile, Cambodian officials have responded positively to the resumption, but with cautious optimism.
"I have just gotten the information about the (resumption of) direct aid to (the) Cambodian) (government) provided by the U.S. I do not know clearly about the matter and we need to wait and talk in detail about it," Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman and Minister of Information, told Xinhua by phone on Feb. 23.
The U.S. will cut down part of its aid for the NGOs and channel it to the Cambodian government instead, he said.
"We have always had good relations and cooperation," he said, adding that the U.S. used to help the Cambodian government in the sectors of anti-drug, health, medicine and others.
In addition, Nov Sowathearo, spokesman of the co-ruling Funcinpec Party, told Xinhua that the restored assistance is expected to help facilitate poverty reduction, enhance people's living standard and develop the whole country.
The United States halted direct funding for the Cambodian government in 1997 when then-First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh was ousted by the military forces. The US administration then turned to fund only the NGOs in Cambodia instead.
Source: Xinhua
The United States Embassy on Wednesday once again confirmed the resumption of direct funding for the Cambodian government after a decade of hiatus, but said conditions will be attached.
One of the conditions is that the Cambodian government has transparent financial accounting and procurement integrity systems for receiving U.S. aid, Erin Soto, country director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told reporters.
The embassy confirmed on Feb. 22 that U.S. President George W. Bush has signed a congressional appropriations resolution for the 2007 fiscal year that "contains no restrictions on direct U.S. government funding of Cambodian government activities."
"The embassy here definitely sees that the bilateral relationship has been growing much closer and deeper over the past few years," an embassy spokesman told reporters on Wednesday in regard of the resumption, which came two weeks after a U.S. Navy frigate visited the kingdom's sea port of Sihanoukville, the first such visit in the past 30 years.
On Feb. 23, the Cambodian Daily quoted U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli as saying that the lift of the decade-old ban "is one more step toward broadening and deepening bilateral relations" and "our hope is to have more normal relations and draw Cambodia closer to the community of nations."
He praised Cambodia for its cooperation on anti-terrorism issues, but confirmed that the policy shift has not been driven only by the exigencies of the war on terror.
Roland Eng, Cambodian Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2005, told the paper that "we are turning a new page in the relations between the U.S. and Cambodia. This is very positive. Cambodia more than ever deserves this move. Since the Sept. 11 event, we have never refused anything that the U.S. has requested. "
According to U.S. embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle, under the terms of the 2007 U.S. budget resolution passed on Feb. 15, Cambodia will likely receive about 56 million U.S. dollars this fiscal year, without any restrictions on direct government assistance.
Official statistics showed that in 2006, the U.S. channeled altogether 54.9 million U.S. dollars of aid to the NGOs in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries that relies on an average of 500 million U.S. dollars of foreign aid each year and ranked 151 among the 163 countries in the 2006 corruption perception index of Transparency International.
Meanwhile, Cambodian officials have responded positively to the resumption, but with cautious optimism.
"I have just gotten the information about the (resumption of) direct aid to (the) Cambodian) (government) provided by the U.S. I do not know clearly about the matter and we need to wait and talk in detail about it," Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman and Minister of Information, told Xinhua by phone on Feb. 23.
The U.S. will cut down part of its aid for the NGOs and channel it to the Cambodian government instead, he said.
"We have always had good relations and cooperation," he said, adding that the U.S. used to help the Cambodian government in the sectors of anti-drug, health, medicine and others.
In addition, Nov Sowathearo, spokesman of the co-ruling Funcinpec Party, told Xinhua that the restored assistance is expected to help facilitate poverty reduction, enhance people's living standard and develop the whole country.
The United States halted direct funding for the Cambodian government in 1997 when then-First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh was ousted by the military forces. The US administration then turned to fund only the NGOs in Cambodia instead.
Source: Xinhua
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