Thursday, June 17, 2010

Border, Mekong on Agenda for Regional Meeting

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 16 June 2010


Lawmakers on Wednesday named 24 members to join an annual Asian parliamentary meeting to be held in Hanoi later this year and where Cambodia hopes to float proposals to resolve border conflicts and better define the use of the Mekong River.

Cambodia is facing political pressure over border demarcation with Vietnam while it continues a two-year military standoff with Thailand on disputed land on the northern frontier.

Policymakers are also grappling with how to best balance the needs of people who depend on the Mekong for survival with the energy needs of the country’s growing economy.

The 24 lawmakers from the National Assembly and Senate will take these issues and others to the 31st General Assembly of the Asian Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in September.

The delegation will include National Assembly President Heng Samrin; Cheam Yiep, a National Assembly member who is head of the AIPA national group; and Pen Panha, head of the National Assembly’s legal committee.

Cheam Yiep said members will focus on political stability, security, social order, human and drug trafficking, economics and social matters. He will bring with him a proposal on Mekong River usage as well as ecotourism.

A National Assembly delegation traveled to Vietnam Wednesday to study AIPA procedures.

AIPA member states include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines. Burma, which has no National Assembly, is a special observer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheam Yiep political stability is giving in to anything that will keep him in power.

Anonymous said...

I don't see how Cambodia can have stability in anything as long as AH HUN SEN can make and break anything he wanted while leave Cambodian people out in the cold!

At the moment Cambodian people do not have peace of mind from land eviction to human and drug trafficking...even if AH Cheam Yap try to focus to bring about stability in Cambodia and it will never going to happen because AH Cheam Yap himself is part of the problem!