Looming cuts to US aid ‘no problem’

[geovalin]

US government plans to cut 70 percent of aid to Cambodia are no cause for concern, a senior Foreign Ministry official said. Speaking yesterday at the 24th anniversary of the Constitutional Council, Foreign Ministry secretary of state Ouch Borith said the aid cuts would have no significant impact on the country.

 

“It is the right of the United States to do so,” Mr Borith said. “Cambodia can stand by itself even if the US cuts aid by 100 percent. We also have other countries helping us.” Mr Borith said he met with a US Senate clerk official in May to discuss the aid cuts, before relations turned sour between the countries last month.

 

He added that the US gave $1 billion for developing democracy in Cambodia between 1992 and 2015, the majority of which went straight to NGOs. Tensions with the US have been escalating since the government last month shut down the US-funded National Democratic Institute and ordered its foreign staff to leave the country.

 

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