Cambodian PM says meeting with Thai leader in NY "fruitful"

Photo: By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) met with his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva (right) at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel's room for border talk at the sideline of US-ASEAN Summit.

People's Daily Online
September 29, 2010

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday the meeting with his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva in New York last weekend proved to be a "fruitful one".

Delivering speech to graduate students in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said the meeting had "built confidence and trust and cooperation" between the two countries.

He said that during the 40-minute talks in New York, there were many issues on common bilateral cooperation between the two countries, not only on border issue alone.

He said the relation between the two nations is important, adding that no any single country wishes to stage war, but to live in peace.

Hun Sen said that his country is now improving relations with the three neighboring countries of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand with an ultimate aim to establish special economic zones along the borders with these nations.

Soon after returning from New York on Sunday, Prak Sokhon, secretary of state of the Office of the Council of Ministers and the minister attached to the prime minister, told reporters that the 40-minute meeting between the two leaders had discussed four particular topics.

According to Prak Sokhon, one of the four topics was on the assurance to avoid military confrontation between the two countries.
The other three issues were on a joint monitor on press reports that may jeopardize or confuse the public on the relation between the countries; promotion of cooperation on exchange of arts and sports; and examination of the possibility of opening a new border point at Stung Bot for trade promotion between the two nations.

Hun Sen was in New York for the second ASEAN-U.S. Summit which was held on Sept. 24 at the invitation of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The meeting between Hun Sen and Abhisit Vejjajiva was held on the sidelines of the summit.

Cambodia and Thailand had border conflict just one week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple was registered as World Heritage Site on July 15, 2008.

Since then, military standoff has been on and off along the border between the two countries, and several military clashes have recorded small causalities from both sides. The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated. Thailand continues to stake territorial claims of the 4.6 square kilometer area in the vicinity of the Temple of Preah Vihear, which the International Court of Justice on June 15, 1962 ruled in favor to Cambodia, saying Preah Vihear Temple belongs to Cambodia.

Source: Xinhua