Speeches
Remarks by Deputy Chief of Mission Theodore Allegra at USCG Advanced Boarding Officer Mobile Training
Ream Base, Sihanouk Ville
August 24, 2009
US Embassy Phnom Penh is committed to supporting Samdech PM Hun Sen’s initiative in creating a National Committee for Maritime Security and improving capacities of the Royal Cambodian Navy, Cambodian National Police Maritime Enforcement units, and other RGC organizations with responsibility for maritime security. The USCG Advanced Boarding Officer course is intended to increase capacity within the Royal Cambodian Navy to enforce its maritime domain and conduct operations in accordance with International Law and Human Rights. In addition to increasing capacity within the RCN, this training event demonstrates the USG commitment to partnering with Cambodia to combat international crime and terrorism within the maritime domain. The Advanced Boarding Officer training curriculum provided by the US Coast Guard is a physically and mentally demanding course. It will help establish skills for personnel designated to conduct boarding operations of suspect vessels on the high seas. We are pleased that this training could be funded by the United States. As part of an overall approach to improve Maritime Security in Cambodia, the United States will also send two Navy officers from Ream Base to Maritime Law Enforcement training in the United States in September 2009. When they return in December 2009, these officers will support a second USCG training team to Ream Base in February 2010 to begin a new training program for the Royal Cambodian Navy. Through this, the US expects that Ream Base will develop new skills to conduct maritime law enforcement training throughout the Cambodian Navy.
