US diplomat tours Cambodia's famed Angkor temples

[Coventina]

Source: International Herald-Tribune

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte toured centuries-old Angkor temples in northwestern Cambodia on Sunday as he began a three-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation, an embassy official said.

Negroponte was scheduled to arrive in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Monday to hold talks with Cambodian officials, including Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, U.S. Embassy spokesman John Johnson said.

The deputy secretary of state was also expected to attend the signing of an agreement under which the United States will provide US$24 million for economic development projects in Cambodia, the embassy said in a statement.

Negroponte's visit is the latest sign of improved relations between the two countries. Last year, the United States lifted a decade-old ban on direct aid to the Cambodian government. Washington cut off direct funding to Cambodian government projects in 1997 after Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted Prince Norodom Ranariddh, then his co-premier, in a coup.



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