Phnom Penh: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prak Sokhonn, will co-chair the 2nd Mekong-US Partnership Meeting tomorrow with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. The online meeting will also be attended by the Foreign Ministers of Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the Secretary-General of ASEAN.

The meeting will review the progress of cooperation since the 1st Mekong-U.S. Partnership meeting last September. It will also map a way forward in the context of Covid-19.

The meeting comes amid a cooling of tensions between Phnom Penh and Washington. On Friday, as the first ever donation of Covid-19 vaccines from the US arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport, the Prime Minister expressed his deep appreciation to the government and people of the United States. He described the US as a “friendly country” along with China, Japan and the UK, who have all pledged donations of Covid-19 vaccines or have already delivered.

In turn, the US Embassy’s charges d’affaires said the vaccines were not designed to curry favour, but were part of the US’s ongoing support of the Cambodian people. The balance of its vaccine donation – just over 600-thousand doses of the single shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine – arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport in the early hours of Monday morning.