Mr. Vora Huy Kanthoul split his life between his native Cambodia, France, and the United States. At the tender age of five, he found himself in exile in France because his father was a leader of the Democrat Party and found himself in a delicate situation following a “coup de force” against his party. He returned home a year later and started school in Phnom Penh. At age 16, he again was sent to France to a boarding school as his dad accepted an ambassadorship to the former Soviet Union and there was no French school there he could attend. After high-school, as his father was still in Moscow, he wanted to try his hands at the famous Institute of International Relations run by the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, after the successful year of preparation, when he finally applied for the desired program, he was turned down for political reason. He then returned to Cambodia where he signed up with the Faculty of Law and Economics. Upon graduation, he passed a special entrance exam to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became a Foreign Service officer. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, he got uprooted again and found himself a refugee, this time in the US. He finally returned home in the year 2000. Since returning home, he served two stints in the RGC, the first time as Secretary of State for Rural Development, and again as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
