SA KAEO, Oct 16 (TNA) – The number of visitors passing through the border check-point at Aranyaprathet in Sa Kaeo province that bordering Cambodia declined significantly while the export volume at the border crossing fell 30 per cent Thursday as the tourists and traders feared that the border would closed due to the clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers.
The border opened normally on Thursday but a travel operators said their tours were cancelled due to fears and uncertainty regarding the border situation and possibility of the checkpoints' closure.
The assistant chief of customs at Aranyaprathet, Surapon Ampan, said Thai exports to Cambodia have dropped sharply, as Thai traders are uncertain whether there would be problems with exported items sent to the neighbouring country.
Thai exported goods to Cambodia saw a positive trade balance of Bt17 billion (US$ 500 million) in 2007 and Bt 26 billion (US$ 760 million) in 2008, counting as a 52 per cent increase as a result of Cambodia's economic growth and increasing purchasing power.
While the main items Cambodia imported from Thailand were motorcycles, construction materials, and consumer goods, Thailand imported used clothing, agricultural products, scrap iron and aluminium for recycling.
Thailand's imports from Cambodia have risen 60 per cent from Bt130 million (US$ 4 million) in 2007 to Bt2.1 billion (US$ 61 million) in 2008.
At Aranyaprathet's Rong Klua Market, a Cambodian trader said the value of his sales fhas fallen to Bt1,000-2,000 (US$ 30-60) from the normal amount of Bt4,000-5,000 (US$ 120-150) per day.
However, the trader said he wasn't afraid of the two countries' tensions and would come back for his business the next day.
The most affected sector from the border shooting was tourism. Sa Kaeo Tourism Association chairperson Ratree Rungruang said all tours were cancelled hursday, and would likely continue in the following months, as tourists, 40 per cent being foreigners, assumed the Cambodian border to be closed.
The cancellations have affected more than 10 Thai tour companies operating in Cambodia.
Meanwhile, the deputy chef of Thailand's Aranyaprathet immigration office, Pol. Lt-Gen. Teerapan Sukonpan, said as many as 8,000 to 10,000 Cambodian traders and some 3,000 Thais normally cross the border every day, but the numbers dwindled Thursday, with the number of Thais down to only a few hundred.
However, the border remains open as usual but the imposition of stricter measures for border checks was applied and guards are to watch the situation on a 24-hour basis.
Gen. Teerapan said further that Thais and Cambodians along the Aranyaprathet border have good ties and still contacted normally, and Cambodian traders' trade goods and personal belongings left in Thai territory would safely be kept by the Thai authorities. (TNA)
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