Cambodian consulate opens in Lowell

Monday, April 27, 2009
Associated Press

LOWELL — The third Cambodian consulate in the U.S. has opened in Massachusetts.

The consulate in Lowell, featuring a small Buddhist shrine, was dedicated during a small ceremony Sunday attended by about 200 people.

Cambodian Ambassador Hem Heng says the facility will help Cambodian-Americans and citizens get visas, passport validations and deal with other diplomatic matters that previously were handled in Washington.

It will also help boost trade and investment between the nations.

Lowell, about 25 miles northwest of Boston, has a significant Cambodian population.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong was taken by ambulance to a city hospital after falling ill, but ceremony emcee Vesna Nuon tells The Sun of Lowell that Namhong was simply exhausted.

Cambodian foreign minister recovering after almost collapsing in US

Apr 27, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's foreign minister was recovering in hospital after almost collapsing Sunday during an opening ceremony for a new consulate in the United States, a government spokesman said Monday.

Hor Namhong was rushed to hospital after he almost fainted while giving a speech at the new Cambodian consulate in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said.

'The doctors in the emergency department said he was suffering from fatigue and was recovering well,' Koy Kuong said.

Lowell is home to about 30,000 Cambodians, many of whom fled the South-East Asian country during the 1975-1979 rule of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime and the subsequent two decades of civil war.

Cambodia has an embassy in Washington DC and consulates in Seattle, New York and Los Angeles.

Hor 5 Hong sent to emergency in the US [-US soil not welcoming Comrade Hor 5 Hong?]

27 April 2009
DAP News
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Hor 5 Hong was sent to the hospital in emergency while he was giving a speech at the inauguration of the new Cambodian consulate in Lowell, Massachusetts. However, he felt better after he was sent to the hospital.

Kuy Kuong, spokesman for the ministry of Foreign Affairs, told DAP on Monday 27 April that Hor 5 Hong feels better after US doctors saved him. Apparently, Hor 5 Hong suffers from severe fatigue during his travel.