BANGKOK – In a bid to bolster stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia, the United States is set to offer $45 million in aid to Thailand and Cambodia, according to a high-ranking U.S. State Department representative. This initiative follows the significant role the U.S. played in quelling last year’s border disputes between the two nations.

Michael DeSombre, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, revealed the plan during an online press conference from Bangkok. While in Thailand’s capital, DeSombre engaged with senior Thai officials to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, known as the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords, which was brokered in October of the previous year.

The conflict stemmed from ongoing disputes over territorial claims along the border between Thailand and Cambodia.

DeSombre commented, “The reestablishment of peace along the Thai-Cambodian border opens avenues for the United States to enhance collaboration with both nations. This effort aims to foster regional security and further our interests in building a safer, more robust, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”

Following his engagements in Thailand, DeSombre is slated to meet with Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh on Saturday to continue discussions.

The United States “will be providing $15 million for border stabilization to help communities recover and to support displaced persons; $10 million in demining and unexploded ordinance clearance operations; and $20 million for initiatives that will help both countries combat scam operations and drug trafficking, among many other programs,” DeSombre said.

But details of the aid packages were still under discussion, he said.

The fighting in July and December displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Thailand and Cambodia and killed about 100 soldiers and civilians. Land mines left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia are a continuing problem, while Thailand claims newly laid mines in frontier areas were responsible for wounding its patrolling soldiers in about a dozen incidents last year.

Online scams originating in Southeast Asia, especially from Cambodia and Myanmar, are major transnational crime problems that have swindled billions of dollars from victims around the would.

U.S. assistance to the countries of Southeast Asia and other parts of the world for humanitarian and development programs was severely cut last year when the Trump administration shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

Cambodia and Thailand initially clashed for five days in late July before agreeing on a preliminary ceasefire. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the time pressed for an unconditional ceasefire, but there was little headway until U.S. President Donald Trump intervened. Trump said that he warned the Thai and Cambodian leaders that Washington wouldn’t move forward with trade agreements if hostilities continued.

The ceasefire was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

New fighting broke out early last month, but the Thai and Cambodian defense ministers signed a new pact on Dec. 27, vowing to implement the October agreement.

“We are very focused on pursuing peace in and around the world,” DeSombre told journalists. “President Trump is a president of peace, and really believes that peace is critical to economic growth and prosperity.”