Friday, 22 February 2008

A Cambodia team to visit Bangkok on Preah Vihear issue

The Nation

Cambodia will send a team of officials to Bangkok next month in an attempt to end the conflict over the proposal to have Unesco include the Preah Vihear shrine on the World Heritage list, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said Saturday.. The team will be led by Prime Minister Hun Sen's advisory chief Var Kim Hong.

Cambodia last year asked Unesco to place Preah Vihear on the World Heritage list, a move which Thailand objected to.

The question of ownership of the shrine was put before the World Court, which ruled in favour of Cambodia in 1962.

Reacting to Cambodia's proposal last year, Thailand put its case to Unesco, saying the two countries had not yet settled a demarcation agreement on land around the ruins.

A senior Thai Army officer has suggested the two countries should jointly propose the listing of the historical site to Unesco as Thailand may lose its land, which has yet to be demarcated, if Cambodia made the proposal alone.

Noppadon said Saturday he had discussed the issue with his Khmer counterpart Hor Nam Hong on the sidelines of the Asean retreat meeting in Singapore on Tuesday.

Hor Nam Hong asked for Thai support for his country's resubmitting of the proposal to Unesco this year. He said Phnom Penh was ready to declare that the procedure would not affect the border demarcation.

Noppadon said Var Kim Hong will discuss the issue with the Thai Foreign Ministry's Legal Affairs Department chief Weerachai Pladisai. He insisted Thailand had no policy to block Cambodia's proposal to Unesco but that the territorial issue should be resolved first
.

No comments: