PHNOM PENH, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Sok An passed away on Wednesday evening at the age of 66 due to illness, the government said in a statement.
"Samdech Vibol Panha Sok An, a member of parliament, deputy prime minister and minister in charge of the Council of Ministers, died at 6:32 pm on March 15, 2017 at a hospital in Beijing at the age of 66 due to illness," the statement said.
Sok An was one of the country's most prominent politicians. In the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), he was a standing committee member.
In the government, he had served as the minister in charge of the Council of Ministers since 1998; and he was promoted to the rank of a deputy prime minister in 2004.
Sok An, the father of five children, had battled health issues for months before his death. His son Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodian Rice Federation, had been married to Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen's youngest daughter Hun Maly.
CPP's spokesman Sok Eysan said that Sok An was a senior official who had spent his whole life to serve the nation and the people of Cambodia.
"It was a great loss for Cambodia since he was a senior official who had made countless achievements in settling major national issues," he told Xinhua.
Fresh News service provider reported late Wednesday that Sok An's body will be airlifted from Beijing to Phnom Penh, and it is expected to arrive in Phnom Penh early Thursday morning.
His death came just two days after Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni bestowed on him with the honorific "Samdech," which translates roughly as "The Greatest."
In a royal decree on Monday, the king wrote that Sok An "is a leader who has helped lead Cambodia in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 1993, contributing to building national peace, unification, economy, and development in all fields."
The monarch added that Sok An "has loyalty to the throne, protect and worship Buddhism, and defend social justice for the sustainability of the monarchy in the Kingdom of Cambodia."
