Happy New Year everyone! I am very excited about
what 2013 will bring and hope that you are also looking forward to a
great year ahead. I especially look forward to the United States and
Cambodia expanding our positive and productive relationship, and I hope
this column will continue to help us find ways to do this. But to do
so, I need readers to send me questions at AskAMBToddPP@state.gov.
I just returned to Cambodia from a short vacation to the United States to spend the holidays with my family. Everyone I spoke with was very interested to hear about my life in Cambodia and the things the Embassy is doing to strengthen the partnership between our two countries. As is typical for Americans on New Year’s Day, I took time to reflect on the past year and consider the possibilities of the new year ahead. For many people, an important part of marking the day is making a “New Year’s Resolution,” a commitment to accomplishing something special in the new year. My resolution this year is to step up our efforts to make the relationship between the United States and Cambodia an even more effective one, and there are several key areas that my team and I will focus on in 2013.
The first is supporting judicial reform and the rule of law. Many observers have voiced concerns that several high-profile convictions by Cambodian courts during the past year appeared to be politically motivated or lacked transparency. Such perceptions lead citizens to question the judicial system’s independence and damage their faith and trust in the courts. I want to make sure the United States is part of the solution in helping Cambodia overcome these challenges. An important way we are promoting judicial reform is through the training of law students, while our support for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is helping to ingrain in the next generation of Cambodian judicial officials a respect for transparency, independence, and sound legal processes. We also fund centers that provide legal services to people who could not otherwise afford legal counseling or representation. We will also continue to support non-governmental organizations and grassroots networks in conducting programs to educate Cambodians on their legal rights, particularly on land and environmental issues.
For those of you who read my column regularly, you already know how passionate I am about working to reduce poverty in Cambodia by growing the economy, and I intend to increase our efforts in this area in 2013. I’ve previously written about my travel to Thailand and Singapore to encourage more American businesses to establish a presence in Cambodia, and I will continue to make similar trips this year – with one in the works now to Hong Kong and Guangzhou – because I believe U.S. businesses can play an important role in developing Cambodia’s middle class through high-skilled employment. We will also continue to address some of the root causes of poverty in Cambodia, including food insecurity and resource degradation. For instance, our HARVEST program will help to increase agricultural productivity, raise incomes and improve nutrition among the rural poor, and decrease environmental degradation. Last year, I had the opportunity to visit a farmer in Pursat assisted by the HARVEST program and saw the difference that program made in his family’s life. We will work even harder to help more Cambodians escape from poverty and poor living conditions this year.
With the upcoming parliamentary elections, it should be no surprise that we will continue to focus on strengthening the democratic process and promoting free and fair elections. We are allocating additional resources to support many pre-election activities, such as training for political parties on message development, improved electoral transparency, voter education, and election monitoring by local civil-society organizations. These activities will help to increase the number of eligible voters, build an informed electorate, promote a more transparent electoral process, and encourage the candidates and political parties to contest the election through a competition of ideas. We are also funding civic education programs that increase interest among youth in learning about democracy, with activities to include democracy festivals and Youth Policy-Dialogue TV Talk shows in the lead up to the 2013 national elections.
Thank you very much for reading my first column of the new year. I am very interested in hearing your opinion about the direction the United States will be taking in Cambodia during the upcoming year. Do you think we have it right? Are there other more pressing issues we should be focused on? Please send me your thoughts, reactions, and questions – in English or Khmer – to AskAMBToddPP@state.gov.
By William E. Todd, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia
I just returned to Cambodia from a short vacation to the United States to spend the holidays with my family. Everyone I spoke with was very interested to hear about my life in Cambodia and the things the Embassy is doing to strengthen the partnership between our two countries. As is typical for Americans on New Year’s Day, I took time to reflect on the past year and consider the possibilities of the new year ahead. For many people, an important part of marking the day is making a “New Year’s Resolution,” a commitment to accomplishing something special in the new year. My resolution this year is to step up our efforts to make the relationship between the United States and Cambodia an even more effective one, and there are several key areas that my team and I will focus on in 2013.
The first is supporting judicial reform and the rule of law. Many observers have voiced concerns that several high-profile convictions by Cambodian courts during the past year appeared to be politically motivated or lacked transparency. Such perceptions lead citizens to question the judicial system’s independence and damage their faith and trust in the courts. I want to make sure the United States is part of the solution in helping Cambodia overcome these challenges. An important way we are promoting judicial reform is through the training of law students, while our support for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is helping to ingrain in the next generation of Cambodian judicial officials a respect for transparency, independence, and sound legal processes. We also fund centers that provide legal services to people who could not otherwise afford legal counseling or representation. We will also continue to support non-governmental organizations and grassroots networks in conducting programs to educate Cambodians on their legal rights, particularly on land and environmental issues.
For those of you who read my column regularly, you already know how passionate I am about working to reduce poverty in Cambodia by growing the economy, and I intend to increase our efforts in this area in 2013. I’ve previously written about my travel to Thailand and Singapore to encourage more American businesses to establish a presence in Cambodia, and I will continue to make similar trips this year – with one in the works now to Hong Kong and Guangzhou – because I believe U.S. businesses can play an important role in developing Cambodia’s middle class through high-skilled employment. We will also continue to address some of the root causes of poverty in Cambodia, including food insecurity and resource degradation. For instance, our HARVEST program will help to increase agricultural productivity, raise incomes and improve nutrition among the rural poor, and decrease environmental degradation. Last year, I had the opportunity to visit a farmer in Pursat assisted by the HARVEST program and saw the difference that program made in his family’s life. We will work even harder to help more Cambodians escape from poverty and poor living conditions this year.
With the upcoming parliamentary elections, it should be no surprise that we will continue to focus on strengthening the democratic process and promoting free and fair elections. We are allocating additional resources to support many pre-election activities, such as training for political parties on message development, improved electoral transparency, voter education, and election monitoring by local civil-society organizations. These activities will help to increase the number of eligible voters, build an informed electorate, promote a more transparent electoral process, and encourage the candidates and political parties to contest the election through a competition of ideas. We are also funding civic education programs that increase interest among youth in learning about democracy, with activities to include democracy festivals and Youth Policy-Dialogue TV Talk shows in the lead up to the 2013 national elections.
Thank you very much for reading my first column of the new year. I am very interested in hearing your opinion about the direction the United States will be taking in Cambodia during the upcoming year. Do you think we have it right? Are there other more pressing issues we should be focused on? Please send me your thoughts, reactions, and questions – in English or Khmer – to AskAMBToddPP@state.gov.
By William E. Todd, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia
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