Border Committee President Discusses Cambodian Oil on 'Hello VOA'

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
26/04/2007

Click here to listen Sok Khemara hosts 'Hello VOA' in Khmer
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Sean Pengse, the president of the Cambodian Border Committee, which was formed to help Cambodia tackle economic and border issues, addressed listeners live Thursday on "Hello VOA" to discuss Cambodia's recent oil discovery.

Three callers used the forum to discuss concerns over sea borders with Vietnam and Thailand and the sharing of oil revenues between the three countries.

Sean Pengse said there first must be resolution and then drilling. No other country in the world is sharing its product like Cambodia, he said.

He said that while Cambodia has lost territory in border demarcations, the borders will never be as they once were. He said a border agreement with Vietnam in October 2005 was a loss for the nation.

Cambodia, Vietnam to sign parliamentary cooperation agreement [-Border and Khmer Krom issues will not be touched]

April 25, 2007

Cambodian and Vietnamese national assemblies will sign a bilateral cooperation agreement when President of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong visits Cambodia from Wednesday to Saturday.

"The bilateral cooperation focuses on the exchange of visits for both sides' parliamentary members," Heng Samrin, president of the Cambodian National Assembly, told reporters on Wednesday.

Border issues and the dispute about the Khmer Krom people will not be touched during the visit, he added.

During the visit, Nguyen Phu Trong will receive an audience granted by King Norodom Sihamoni, according to a government press release.

He is also expected to meet with Senate President Chea Sim, Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen.

He will later visit the National Museum in Phnom Penh and the Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

Source: Xinhua

Vietnam upgrades border gates with Cambodia

March 19, 2007

Vietnam has decided to upgrade three national border gates with Cambodia into international ones, local newspaper Labor reported Monday.

Under a governmental decision, the country will improve the border gates of Xa Xia, Dinh Ba and Le Thanh in the two southern provinces of Kien Giang and Dong Thap, and central highlands Gia Lai province, respectively.

The country will also upgrade three small border gates in Kien Giang, southern Long An province and central highlands Dac Lac province into national ones.

Ten of Vietnam's 64 cities and provinces border nine localities of Cambodia.

Trade between the two countries, which increased to 900 million U.S. dollars in 2006 from 117 million dollars in 1998, is expected to reach 2 billion dollars in 2010, according to the Vietnamese Trade Ministry.

Source: Xinhua

Three more border gates with Vietnam

16/03/2007
Vietnam has three more int’l border gates

VietNamNet Bridge - Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem has signed a decision recognizing three more international border gates.

They are the Dinh Ba in the southern province of Dong Thap, Xa Xia in southern Kien Giang province and Le Thanh in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

In addition, three sub-border gates are upgraded into national border gates and two more sub-border gates are opened.

The three new national border gates are: Dak Rue in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, My Quy Tay in the southern province of Long An and Giang Thanh in the southern province of Kien Giang.

The two new sub-border gates are Vak Sa in the southern province of Tay Ninh and Ta Vat in the southern province of Binh Phuoc.

These are the results of the 8th meeting of the joint Vietnam-Cambodia Committee on Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. The decision has taken effect as of March 13, 2007.

Source: Dan Tri

Thai soldiers incursion inside Cambodia’s territory in Oddar Meanchey

05 March 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A group of Cambodian local villagers and border soldiers claimed that at the Choam Sro-ngam pass, on the Dangrek mountain chain, in Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, a group of black-clad Thai soldiers have penetrated the border into Cambodia’s territory again.

Local villagers living along the Thai-Cambodian border line near O’Kranhoung, close to Pol Pot’s burial ground claimed that since the beginning of February and up to March, Thai soldiers made several incursions inside Cambodia and prevented the villagers from building their homes.

An anonymous Cambodian villager said: “People are very scared. Now the Thai are occupying the land the authorities sold to 300 families, the price of the land is about $100,000 in total. The Thai soldiers’ incursion started since the beginning of February and it still goes on now in March, they are doing their incursion and violating our territories for the second time since the beginning of February.”

The Cambodian-Thai border liaison vice-president based in Choam Sro-ngam pass, Commander Toch Ra, also said the black-clad Thai soldiers are usually patrolling nearby, but they made their incursion [inside Cambodia]. The commander said that he does not know what the Thai soldiers want because according to the map, the incursion area is inside Cambodia. “On the Thai side, they do not allow the building of homes there. I am certain that this is our territory, according to our map, the location is correctly ours, we do not violate into their side.”

Var Kim Hong, the president of the government border disputes resolution, said on Monday that the government is aware of the problem, and the Cambodian side and their Thai counterparts are meeting in Bangkok in February on this issue. He asked that people not to build homes in this area for now, until the border problem is clearly resolved by both sides.

Var Kim Hong said: “The government knew about this already. During the meeting in Bangkok on 27-28 February, we discuss with the Thai side already and gave them Cambodia’s standing to let them know. The Thai side insists that our villagers who built their homes near the border, to have them tear down their homes. We told them about everything already. On the 28 [of February], I went to meeting, on the 1st [of March] I returned from Bangkok, both sides visited the area, including the Ministry of Defense officials, the Cambodian office of border liaison, and also the president of the Cambodian-Thai border liaison.

Var Kim Hong said that the Thai-Cambodian sides are still discussing to resolve several border issues extending from Malai pass in Battambang province, all the way to Oddar Meanchey province.

Hun Sen backs controversial golf course straddling Cambodia-Vietnam border in Svay Rieng

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen meets his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung in Phnom Penh, Dec 2006

Sunday, March 4, 2007
Cambodian PM backs golf course project on Vietnam border

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomed a US$100 million golf course and facilities project in a cross-border area of Cambodia and Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency reported Saturday.

The report quoted Cambodian officials as saying Hun Sen proposed to submit the project to the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), the government agency responsible for investment activities, for consideration.

The Malaysian-invested project was presented by a visiting Vietnamese delegation, led by President Nguyen Minh Triet, this week.

The proposed 9-hole golf course would locate on the area including part of Cambodia’s Svay rieng province and Vietnam’s Tay Ninh province.

Besides, Malaysia’s CVI Resorts Ltd Company planned to build a five-star hotel, a stadium, and a trade and entertainment complex.

Svay Rieng mayor Chieng Om said the two country’s cooperation in this project would help attract more businesses to their border area.

Source: VNA

Border issue not on discussion agenda [-That's what they claim only!]

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

By KS
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Answering to an invitation by king Norodom Sihamoni, Nguyen Minh Triet, the Vietnamese Prime Minister, started a 3-day state visit in the kingdom. Welcomed at the airport by a few government officials, the Vietnamese president went directly to the Royal Palace at his arrival. He was received there by king Norodom Sihamoni. During his stay, Nguyen Minh Triet, who is accompanied by some 50 businessmen, will meet with both presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate, before meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen. With this trip to Cambodia, the Vietnamese president is returning the courtesy back to king Norodom Sihamoni who visited Vietnam in 2006. “It is courtesy call. There will not be any discussion on border issues because it is now resolved,” Long Vissalo, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters. In 2005, the two countries ratified the Supplemental border treaty to the 1985 border treaty, which, at the time, was sharply criticized by the opponents of the prime minister.

Today again, some said that the border issue should not be closed. In a communiqué, the Cambodia Watchdog Council (CWC) organization firmly “condemns” the Vietnamese government “which uses its political might to pressure Cambodia and to encroach on her territory.” In this communiqué signed by Men Nath, CWC’s president, CWC calls upon the Cambodian government to repeal the 1982 treaty on the maritime border [imposed by Vietnam during its occupation of Cambodia].

Regarding the relationships with this neighbor, Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, called on the government to think first and foremost on the interest of the country. “Cambodia must remain independent with respect to all foreign powers, whoever they may be,” Sam Rainsy stressed. Sam Rainsy also underscored the fact that the kingdom is courted by both China and Vietnam, each one of them is looking to balance their power in Cambodia.

Thun Saray, president of the Adhoc human rights NGO, noted that Vietnamese president’s visit carries both the economic and the political aspects. “Economic because he is accompanied by businessmen, and political because it must be viewed in the context of regional strategies carried out by powerful neighbors. Cambodia is in the interest of both Vietnam and China,” Thun Saray stressed.