PPA legacy: Cambodia marks 30 years of Peace, Progress and Autonomy

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements (PPA) which brought the four warring factions in Cambodia to the negotiating table mediated by the international community that eventually led to an end to the more than two decades of civil strife in the country and the first democratic elections sponsored by the United Nations in 1993.

Some 30 years later, government officials, scholars and ordinary Cambodians have looked back and expressed their views about how the spirit of the PPA has been fulfilled and translated into actions to ensure peace and democracy in Cambodia. Phay Siphan, government spokesman, says the Cambodian people owe a deep gratitude to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who had found solutions for Cambodia to have peace.

“And we have had peace until now under the wise leadership of (Prime Minister Hun Sen),” he says. “We should be proud of that.” Secondly, Siphan says the government has substantially alleviated poverty among millions of poverty-stricken Cambodians during the last three decades. “We have reduced poverty and we have been happy with our economic growth,” he says.

read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50956555/ppa-legacy-cambodia-marks-30-years-of-peace-progress-and-autonomy/