By Vong Sokheng
Monday, 30 April 2012
Phnom Penh Post
Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng and his Thai counterpart Yongyuth
Wichaidit signed an agreement on Friday to promote trade and stability
along the tense border separating the two countries where more than a
dozen Cambodians have been shot and killed in 2012 while trying to cross
in search of work or as part of the illicit logging trade.
The
signing ceremony took place a day after about 20 senior government
leaders from different sides of the border met for the fourth time, and
only a few weeks after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen called on
military and border officials to launch a “campaign” to prevent
Cambodians from crossing the border to illegally log.
A shooting
on April 21 raised the number of Cambodians killed by Thai troops since
January of this year to 14, compared with just 13 such deaths in all of
2011, according to numbers from human rights group Adhoc.
“Our
focus of cooperation is on border security, border crossing and trade
for the better living of people on both sides along the border,” Kheng
told reporters afterward. “I hope that the meeting will bring progress
in bilateral relations.”
Both sides also expressed their firm
commitment to the effective management of border crossings and agreed to
promote cooperation for the prevention and suppression of all illegal
activities along the border, including terrorism, drug trafficking,
human trafficking, acts of piracy, smuggling of antiques and illegal
weapons and money laundering,
Cambodia and Thailand also agreed
to facilitate the exchange of goods and agricultural production between
the countries through possibly establishing markets in pockets along
both sides of the border.
The two ministers agreed the next
meeting will be held in Thailand in 2013.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vong Sokheng at sokheng.vong@phnompenhpost.com
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