The Paris Peace Agreements (PPAs) are a comprehensive political framework that brought together 19 different state actors and ended more than two decades of protracted conflict and internal strife that devastated Cambodia. They provided a normative framework for democracy that has been recognized in the Cambodian constitution and provided an opportunity to rebuild Cambodia into a modern county integrated into the global community and Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Many stakeholders view the PPAs as establishing a benchmark which has not yet been achieved and towards which Cambodians should continue to strive. Thirty years after the signing of the PPAs it is worth revisiting the way that the agreements were reached and the place that the PPAs have in Cambodia today.

The Report on "The Paris Peace Agreements: Looking Back and Moving Forward", prepared by the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, and the Stimson Center, has three objectives: to examine Cambodia’s development since 1993 and assess the opportunities and challenges within the context of the Paris Peace Agreements; to determine the contemporary relevance of the Paris Peace Agreements and explain how the Agreements can serve as a focal point for Cambodia’s future development; and to set out the “lessons learned” for future generation from the implementation of the Agreements.