Public Lecture on “US and ASEAN Relations”
Chhay Daroth (UCSS)
The University of Cambodia (UC), in collaboration with the US Embassy, hosted an lecture on “US and ASEAN Relations” at the UC Conference Center on Friday, January 20, 2012. The lecture was presented by Mr. Josh Cartin, US Deputy Representative to the ASEAN Secretariat. Dr. Y Ratana, Dean for Undergraduate Studies Division and Director of Academic Foundation Department, moderated the lecture.
During the lecture, Mr. Cartin talked about the opportunities
for ASEAN and US in the framework of US-ASEAN Relations. He said that South East Asia has a population of approximately 600 million people with a diversity of languages, cultures, and religions; and it is a region which the US cannot abandon.
Mr. Cartin also addressed the opportunities and challenges ASEAN nations may face in the future. He noted that ASEAN nations will be able to share with one another opportunities in medical care, and so on, and these nations will prosper together towards a better development. However, he added there will be some challenges that ASEAN may confront: because of the region’s long history and deep-rooted cultures, there are the challenges of border conflicts, migration problems, and national identity issues. Besides these challenges, ASEAN may face others related to climate change, food security, human trafficking, and water pollution.
He also considered the opportunities for Cambodia in chairing ASEAN in 2012. Cambodia could achieve its goals during the chairmanship by talking to each member and other dialogue partners such as China and Japan. He finally said US is trying to figure out how it can work best with Cambodia during the chairmanship. At the end of the lecture, Mr. Cartin took several challenging questions from UC students, especially those in the Colleges of Social Sciences and Law.
