TNA (Thailand)
Thailand and Cambodia on Wednesday signed a joint communique on the Preah Vihear temple, freeing the Phnom Penh government to apply for listing as a World Heritage Site without Thai dissent.
The Thai-Cambodian Joint Communique was signed behind closed doors, after which Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and other senior officials told journalists that the new map delineating the temple ruins, prepared by Cambodian authorities, as well as its application to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to list Preah Vihear on the World Heritage List did "not affect each country's rights on surveying and demarcating the common border".
Both countries will jointly plan to manage overlapping areas in line with international standards and submit them to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for consideration by February 1, 2010, Mr Noppadon said.
Phnom Penh will propose Preah Vihear to be listed as a World Heritage Site at a meeting in Quebec between July 2-10.
Denying charges of conflict of interest by the opposition Democrat Party and the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy, Mr Noppadon said the new Cambodian map did "not violate even an inch of Thai territory" and there was no hidden agenda.
He denied that Thailand's approval of the new Cambodian map would help ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra invest in an oil project in Cambodian territorial waters. Admitting that Mr Thaksin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen are friends, he nevertheless said he did not know whether the latter would give any favours to Mr Thaksin.
Meanwhile, Lt-Gen. Dan Meechoo-arth, director of the Supreme Command's Royal Thai Survey Department, said his subordinates had surveyed the disputed area for the first time in the past few decades and by using innovative equipment, he could confirm that Cambodia did not encroach on Thai territory in its application for Preah Vihear to be listed as World Heritage site.
Veerasak Footrakul, permanent secretary for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said a tripartite committee would be appointed and discuss how to supervise the undemarcated 4.6-square kilometres.
The Thai-Cambodian Joint Communique was signed behind closed doors, after which Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and other senior officials told journalists that the new map delineating the temple ruins, prepared by Cambodian authorities, as well as its application to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to list Preah Vihear on the World Heritage List did "not affect each country's rights on surveying and demarcating the common border".
Both countries will jointly plan to manage overlapping areas in line with international standards and submit them to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for consideration by February 1, 2010, Mr Noppadon said.
Phnom Penh will propose Preah Vihear to be listed as a World Heritage Site at a meeting in Quebec between July 2-10.
Denying charges of conflict of interest by the opposition Democrat Party and the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy, Mr Noppadon said the new Cambodian map did "not violate even an inch of Thai territory" and there was no hidden agenda.
He denied that Thailand's approval of the new Cambodian map would help ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra invest in an oil project in Cambodian territorial waters. Admitting that Mr Thaksin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen are friends, he nevertheless said he did not know whether the latter would give any favours to Mr Thaksin.
Meanwhile, Lt-Gen. Dan Meechoo-arth, director of the Supreme Command's Royal Thai Survey Department, said his subordinates had surveyed the disputed area for the first time in the past few decades and by using innovative equipment, he could confirm that Cambodia did not encroach on Thai territory in its application for Preah Vihear to be listed as World Heritage site.
Veerasak Footrakul, permanent secretary for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said a tripartite committee would be appointed and discuss how to supervise the undemarcated 4.6-square kilometres.
