Thai FM Surapong Tovichakchaikul (R) met for talks with Cambodian PM Hun Sen.
Hun Sen discusses development options
Published: 31/12/2011
Writer: Thanida Tansubhapol
Bangkok Post
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to construct the Stung Num hydropower dam in Koh Kong, Cambodia after Thailand agreed to buy the electricity.
The countries will establish a joint working group to build the dam in Koh Kong, adjacent to Thailand's Trat province, Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday, after his return to Thailand from a trip to Cambodia.
Mr Pichai said Cambodia wanted to move ahead with the project immediately.
The project was initiated in 2008 by Cambodia but had been put on hold for years because of political conflicts between the two countries.
Mr Pichai and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul left Bangkok for Phnom Penh on Thursday to discuss preparations for the Joint Commission (JC) meeting which will be held in Chiang Mai province on Feb 29 and March 1.
Energy issues, including the planned construction of Stung Num dam and a natural gas survey in the overlapping maritime zone in the Gulf of Thailand, were high on the agenda.
The upcoming JC meeting will cover various issues between the countries including security, energy, education, culture, trade, the economy and border development.
After the talks on the JC preparations, the ministers paid a 45-minute official visit to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Mr Surapong said Hun Sen also raised the prospect of joint development of the 26,000 sq km overlapping maritime zone between the two nations.
The atmosphere of the talks was friendly, Mr Surapong said.
Mr Surapong said the two countries have also agreed to open a new border checkpoint at Ban Nong Eian of Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo, opposite Banteay Meancheay's Stung Bot in Cambodia.
The new border checkpoint would stimulate trade flow between the countries which is currently worth up to US$2 billion a year.
Meanwhile, Wilaiwan Somkhwamkid, the mother of jailed Thai activist Veera Somkhwamkid, yesterday visited Veera at Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh to inform him of a proposed prisoner swap deal which could result in his early release.
Cambodia says its king, His Majesty Norodom Sihamoni, may pardon Veera and his secretary Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, jailed on spying charges, if Thailand agrees to exchange them for a group of Cambodian prisoners jailed in Thailand.
After returning from her visit, Mrs Wilaiwan said her son wanted to go home and was ready to continue serving the rest of his jail term in Thailand because he was concerned about his health and his mother's travelling to meet him every Friday.
"Everyone felt disappointed with Cambodia's proposal and questioned why we have gone back to square one," she said.
"I felt hopeless and don't know how the Thai government will be able to help him next."
Mr Surapong did not bring up the issue of Veera and Ratree at his talks with Hun Sen.
"I want the Thai government to help him soon," said Mrs Wilaiwan.
"We have lived in hope and gone through this ordeal for a year."
Veera, a coordinator of the Thai Patriots Network, and Ratree are serving eight and six years, respectively, in Prey Sar for illegal entry and espionage. Veera is said to be unwell.
They were arrested on Dec 29, 2010 in Banteay Meancheay.
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to construct the Stung Num hydropower dam in Koh Kong, Cambodia after Thailand agreed to buy the electricity.
The countries will establish a joint working group to build the dam in Koh Kong, adjacent to Thailand's Trat province, Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday, after his return to Thailand from a trip to Cambodia.
Mr Pichai said Cambodia wanted to move ahead with the project immediately.
The project was initiated in 2008 by Cambodia but had been put on hold for years because of political conflicts between the two countries.
Mr Pichai and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul left Bangkok for Phnom Penh on Thursday to discuss preparations for the Joint Commission (JC) meeting which will be held in Chiang Mai province on Feb 29 and March 1.
Energy issues, including the planned construction of Stung Num dam and a natural gas survey in the overlapping maritime zone in the Gulf of Thailand, were high on the agenda.
The upcoming JC meeting will cover various issues between the countries including security, energy, education, culture, trade, the economy and border development.
After the talks on the JC preparations, the ministers paid a 45-minute official visit to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Mr Surapong said Hun Sen also raised the prospect of joint development of the 26,000 sq km overlapping maritime zone between the two nations.
The atmosphere of the talks was friendly, Mr Surapong said.
Mr Surapong said the two countries have also agreed to open a new border checkpoint at Ban Nong Eian of Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo, opposite Banteay Meancheay's Stung Bot in Cambodia.
The new border checkpoint would stimulate trade flow between the countries which is currently worth up to US$2 billion a year.
Meanwhile, Wilaiwan Somkhwamkid, the mother of jailed Thai activist Veera Somkhwamkid, yesterday visited Veera at Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh to inform him of a proposed prisoner swap deal which could result in his early release.
Cambodia says its king, His Majesty Norodom Sihamoni, may pardon Veera and his secretary Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, jailed on spying charges, if Thailand agrees to exchange them for a group of Cambodian prisoners jailed in Thailand.
After returning from her visit, Mrs Wilaiwan said her son wanted to go home and was ready to continue serving the rest of his jail term in Thailand because he was concerned about his health and his mother's travelling to meet him every Friday.
"Everyone felt disappointed with Cambodia's proposal and questioned why we have gone back to square one," she said.
"I felt hopeless and don't know how the Thai government will be able to help him next."
Mr Surapong did not bring up the issue of Veera and Ratree at his talks with Hun Sen.
"I want the Thai government to help him soon," said Mrs Wilaiwan.
"We have lived in hope and gone through this ordeal for a year."
Veera, a coordinator of the Thai Patriots Network, and Ratree are serving eight and six years, respectively, in Prey Sar for illegal entry and espionage. Veera is said to be unwell.
They were arrested on Dec 29, 2010 in Banteay Meancheay.
1 comment:
Another dullard moves by our government, we pay the Siam to build the dam, hoping the Siam will buy our electricity, when did the Siam and the Yuon EVER honor any agreement with KHMER, NEVER.....and how will we enforce the agreements, NOTHING...and if the Siam won't buy, will our Cambodian population in Koh Kong and the surrounding provinces able to use and pay for the electricity our at the competitive rates, what if the market from our domestic customers is too small, unable to generate enough revenues to maintain the dam itself, what's that mean, we have to force ourselves to sell a much cheaper rates to the Siam. Now the Siam sitting in the win win situation with us again, and again. We will be in dept to finance the dam to the Siam, and they will get a very cheap electricity from.
I hope I am deadly wrong of my premonition. If I turn out to be correct. Again, our people dunce government failed, we just never learned. I think we Khmer deserve to be extincted from this planet, we have to admit to ourselves that we are the stupidest group of people on this earth. I agreed of one thing that we're good at is sabotaging each other among our people, destruction, untrusted, animosity among ourselves.
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