Sereywath Ek has served as Cambodia’s ambassador to the United States since December 2004. Born in Phnom Pehn in 1954, he left Cambodia at the age of sixteen and spent the Khmer Rouge years in Paris. Ek received a master’s in political science from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris in 1974. He also studied Southeast Asian affairs at the University of Paris from 1974-1975.

 

From 1978 to 1980, Ek worked as a journalist for Le Figaro, a French daily newspaper, and then as an editor of a newsletter at the Cambodian center in Paris from 1983-1985. Ek spent the years 1985 to 1993 at the FUNCINPEC Information Office, representing the Cambodian royalist party first as deputy director and then as director.

 

In 1993, Ek was elected to the Cambodian National Assembly and served five years as a representative. During that time, Ek was vice minister at the Ministry of Information for six months in 1993 and later vice minister at the Ministry of National Defense from 1993 to 1996.

 

From 1999 to 2003, Ek served as ambassador to the Philippines. In 2004, Ek held a seat in the Cambodian Senate, before moving to Washington, DC, to serve as ambassador.

 

Ek speaks French, English and Thai.

Sereywath Ek's Official CV (PDF)