Phnom Penh (FN), Jun. 23 – President of the United States Joe Biden planned to appoint Robert William Forden, an expert on Asian affairs, as the new US Ambassador to Cambodia, replacing the outgoing William Patrick Murphy.

Chad Roedemeier, spokesperson for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, confirmed to Fresh News on Thursday (Jun 23) that like all American ambassadors, Robert William Forden must be approved by the US Congress before becoming a full-fledged ambassador to Cambodia.

The spokesperson added that Patrick Murphy would remain as an ambassador to Cambodia until a official appointment is announced.

According to a White House’s press release issued on 22 June 2022, Robert Forden is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. He currently serves as a senior advisor in the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was the deputy chief of mission and also Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim of the US Embassy in the People’s Republic of China.

Earlier, Forden was the deputy director of the American Institute in Taiwan and before that the economic counselor of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was also deputy economic counselor of the US Embassy in Beijing and, in Washington, the deputy director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Among his other assignments, Forden was chief of the Kaohsiung Branch of the American Institute in Taiwan and an economic officer at the US Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.
=FRESH NEWS