By Sok Lak
Cambodia’s Secretary of State for Ministry of National Defense (MoND), Neang Phat have meeting on August 29 with Brigadier General Richard Simcock, Principal Director for South and Southeast Asia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense discuss on the further development of bilateral military cooperation between United State and Cambodia.
During the meeting, H.E. Neang Phat, said that the visiting of General Richard is very important as it reflects United State attaches important on Cambodia relation and promote the development of bilateral cooperation between both countries.
He stressed that under the two year support from United States (U.S.), Cambodia is success on multinational peacekeeping exercises. “It reflected the development of Cambodia-United State military cooperation is moving forward.”
H.E. Neang Phat believes that U.S. will support Cambodia which to be chair of ASEAN and ASEAN Summit in 2012 and he also believe that U.S. still be counterpart with ASEAN in Minister meeting in Indonesia this year to further promote defense cooperation ties of U.S. and ASEAN.
To reply, Simcock said that U.S. Support Cambodia who will be chairman of ASEAN in 2012.
The visiting this time is to further the development of Cambodia-U.S. Military cooperation to maintain regional and international peace and stability, he added.
U.S. will continue to support Cambodia’s regular army in order to maintain peace, safeguarding security and counter-terrorism capabilities.
Discussions also focused on opportunities for future cooperation in the areas of peacekeeping, maritime security, humanitarian assistance, defense reform, and counter-terrorism. General Simcock underscored the Department of Defense’s continued commitment to working with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to develop a professional force that contributes to regional and international peace and stability.
“The U.S. Department of Defense looks forward to assisting in building up the professional capacity of the RCAF while encouraging the RCAF to continue on a path of improved transparency and respect for human rights and the rule of law,” stated General Simcock.
While the visiting of General Simcock, he participated in a MoND workshop in Sihanoukville to discuss the development of Cambodia’s maritime security strategy. He also visited sites that have benefitted from U.S.-Cambodian defense cooperation, specifically the National Counter-Terrorism Special Force, Peacekeeping Training Center, and Maritime Security Operations Center.
Source: The Southeast Asia Weekly, September 4-10, 2011, Vol 5, Issue 36, Page 4
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