PRIME MINISTER HUN: (In Khmer.) SECRETARY BLINKEN: Prime Minister, thank you very much for receiving us today. I’m very pleased to be here, to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors. In fact, the prime minister and I were at the hotel last night; I opened the guest book and I saw that the previous signature was Secretary Kerry when he was here. And so I’m happy to add my name to his, to Secretary Clinton and Secretary Powell, and very appreciative of the opportunity to meet with you.
I wanted to thank you personally for your leadership, Cambodia’s leadership of ASEAN, at a very challenging time, in a very challenging year. We appreciate the (inaudible) stronger and stronger relationship (inaudible) between the United States and ASEAN. We’re committed to ASEAN’s centrality. We look forward to establishing a (inaudible) strategic partnership.
And simply put, we seek, we want, a strong, positive relationship between the United States and Cambodia. I look forward to speaking with you about many issues of regional and even global concern where our countries can work together. Thank you for having us (inaudible).
