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Abe, who heads a voluntary association of Japanese parliamentarians set up in 1997 to donate schoolhouses to Asian children, participated in an inauguration ceremony in Paches, a village located some 70 kilometers northwest of capital Phnom Penh.

He said the school is the eighth that the association has established in Cambodia so far, and that he hopes through this education project, friendly relations between Japan and Cambodia will be strengthened.

The association has also established schools in Laos and Myanmar.

Abe, who stepped down as premier in September last year amid political pressure, arrived in Cambodia on Thursday as head of a 23-member delegation.

Later Friday, he is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and have an audience with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni. He will leave Cambodia on Saturday after a sightseeing trip to Siem Reap, hometown of the famed ancient temple of Angkor Wat.

In June last year, during a visit to Japan, Hun Sen invited Abe, then prime minister, to visit Cambodia during the year to mark 50 years since a visit to the country by Abe's grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, who was then prime minister.

But the visit did not materialize until now.//Kyodo News -- March 21, 2008