PHNOM PENH, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government here on Monday inked a four-year bilateral agreement with the Cambodian government to provide 24 million U.S. dollars to fund Cambodian economic growth projects.

    Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and USAID Mission director Erin Soto signed the agreement on behalf of their respective government at a ceremony presided over by visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

    The fund will be used to expand USAID's highly successful Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise program, which seeks to improve the productivity of rural enterprise by connecting an strengthening a tall levels of an industry supply chain, Sok An said.

    The fund will also strengthen the voice of private sector and strengthen the public sector's capacity to improve the business-enabling environment, he added.

    USAID expects to commit 57.5 million U.S. dollars in assistance to Cambodia in 2008, according to a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia.