Thai trade expo draws thousands of Cambodian visitors despite ongoing border row

Souce:Xinhua 

Publish By Jane B. Hatcher 

Updated 03/05/2013

PHNOM PENH, May 2 — Thousands of Cambodian people visited and bought Thai products on Thursday at a large scale exhibition although simmering border spat between the two countries remains unsolved.

“Even though border dispute is still going on, trade and investment ties between Thailand and Cambodia are still good,” Amparwon Pichalai, deputy director general of Thai commerce ministry’s international trade promotion department, told reporters before attending the opening of the Thai trade fair 2013 at the Diamond Island Exhibition Center in Phnom Penh. “We are neighbors, we’re working together to increase the bilateral trade volume.”

“Thailand is committed to strengthening and expanding trade and investment relations with Cambodia for mutual benefits,” Surapol Maneepong, Charg d’Affaires of Thai Embassy to Cambodia, said at the opening of the 4-day fair, in which 270 Thai companies have their products displayed.

Mao Thora, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, said it was a positive sign that the two countries have been working closely to improve the bilateral trade relations.

He said Thailand ranked the second largest trading partner of Cambodia. Last year, the bilateral trade valued at 3.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 40 percent year-on-year. However, the trade volume went down by 2.3 percent to 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year.

Jiranan Wongmongkol, director of the Thai embassy’s foreign trade promotion office, said on Monday that the decline was not relevant to the simmering border conflict over the land of 4.6 square kilometers next to Preah Vihear Temple, but it was due to Thai baht appreciation.

Cambodia and Thailand have had border dispute over land near Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Temple since the UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, but Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple.

Deadly clashes between the two countries’ troops occurred in February and April 2011 during the rule of former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Military tensions have eased since August 2011 when ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party won a general election and led the current government.

Last month, the two countries presented their oral statements on the dispute to the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands and the court is expected to issue a decision on who owns the disputed land around the temple later this year.

Meeting on the sidelines of the 22nd ASEAN Summit in Brunei last month, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra pledged to avoid armed clashes and agreed to encourage both sides’ peoples along the borders to continue maintaining good relations, said Kao Kim Hourn, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.