On October 23, 2026, Cambodian Senate President Samdech Techo Hun Sen posted on his official Facebook page to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements, reflecting on Cambodia’s transition from prolonged civil war towards peace and reconstruction.
Hun Sen recalled that representatives of Cambodia’s four political factions signed the peace agreements in Paris on October 23, 1991, witnessed by representatives of 18 countries and the United Nations Secretary-General. He said the agreements laid an important foundation for ending the civil war and restoring the country’s political order.
He said the peace process had begun before the agreements were signed. In December 1987, he held initial talks with the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk in France, followed by further talks in 1988, creating conditions for subsequent peace negotiations.
However, signing the agreements did not immediately end the fighting. Hun Sen said the Khmer Rouge continued armed activities and that Cambodia achieved comprehensive peace only in 1998 through the Win-Win Policy. Following the agreements, the United Nations launched the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in 1992 and organised nationwide elections in 1993, helping restore the country’s political institutions.
This year marks 35 years since the Paris Peace Agreements. That history records Cambodia’s difficult search for peace and highlights the importance of peace and stability to national reconstruction and development.
