For generations, Lowell has been a city where immigrants from across the globe have come to make a better life for themselves, seek new opportunity and contribute to the city's success.

 

The mills that powered the industrial revolution attracted Irish, Greeks, French Canadians and Portuguese among many other ethnic groups. Our neighborhoods, markets, and restaurants reflect this diversity and have provided distinctive character to Lowell for generations.

 

The last large influx of immigrants came to Lowell in the early 1980s. Following the Cambodian genocide, the U.S. admitted 110,000 Cambodian refugees, increasing the Cambodian-American population to 150,000 with nearly 20,000 Cambodians settling in Lowell. The vast majority of these individuals came to the United States after losing family members, loved ones, homes and property during the terrible reign of the Khmer Rouge.

 

Last week, I was fortunate to visit Cambodia and the birth place for so many Lowellians. I took the trip to better understand the history that has shaped the culture for Cambodia-Americans and explore ways to further strengthen ties between our two countries. I was able to meet with Cambodian political, business and nonprofit leaders and discuss how our nations can learn from each other.

 

At almost every turn during our trip the links between Lowell and Cambodia were apparent both in expected and unanticipated ways. At health clinic in Phnom Penh we learned that some of their medical

 

equipment had been generously donated by Saints Medical Center and a nurse practitioner at Lowell Community Health Center has visited the clinic three times to exchange information about treating patients.

An employee at a group dedicated to preserving Cambodia's wildlife had gone to school with one of Lowell's sons.

 

We met with the Secretary of State who had recently visited Lowell and whose daughters live in Boston. And perhaps most strikingly of all, when I turned on my TV one night in Cambodia, they were showing The Fighter with subtitles.

 

The horrific events that brought so many Cambodians to United States still mark and shape so much of the country. One of the first sites we visited was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The museum is a former high school that was turned into a prison and interrogation center from 1975-1979 under the Khmer Rouge. Here doctors, school teachers, scientists and other intellectuals as well as their family members were brutally tortured before being systematically executed. Just outside of Phnom Penh lies one of the many Killing Fields, a mass burial ground for 26,000 victims and a haunting memorial to the millions who lost their lives during the genocide.

 

Cambodia is still very much recovering from these atrocities. This painful past is not just reflected in the public consciousness but also in a very real way in the makeup of its population. Nearly 70 percent of the Cambodian population is under the age of 30 while 50 percent of Cambodians are less than 20 years old.

 

The relative youth of the Cambodian population, while the result of such tragedy, has given the country tremendous hope for the future. As part of that future, ties between Cambodia and the United States should be made stronger.

 

The United States is already one of Cambodia's principal foreign investors, and despite Cambodia's economic challenges, the kingdom has experienced steady growth during the past 15 years, driven by expansion in construction, tourism, agriculture and the garment industry. With the exception of 2009, the Cambodian economy has grown by about 6 percent annually since 2008. The U.S. is the largest market for Cambodian overseas goods and bilateral trade between our two countries is estimated at $2.4 billion.

 

Cambodia also has cultural jewels to showcase such as the Angkor Wat Temple, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, and which has been preserved with help from the United States. U.S. based nonprofit groups are working to protect wildlife and natural resources that are unique to Cambodia and are demonstrating the benefit of showcasing these treasures rather than exploiting them.

 

Despite the gains that Cambodia has made and the potential that exists for further growth, Cambodia is still threatened by many of the same pitfalls that have traditionally plagued emerging and transitioning nations. Corruption is rampant throughout all levels of government, too few Cambodians are able to fully participate in their democracy and elections are marked by fraudulent activities. In order for economic development and opportunity to expand further, Cambodia must confront these dangers that will stymie progress and prevent the Cambodian people from realizing the bright future they seek.

 

President Barack Obama is anticipated to become the first sitting U.S. President to visit Cambodia when he attends a United States-Asia trade summit later this year. He should push for greater individual rights and the right of Cambodians to peaceably assemble. Such progress on fundamental human freedoms will enable our mutually beneficial partnership with Cambodia to flourish further.