ID :
268290
Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:04
Auther :

Thailand, Cambodia to jointly clear mines around Preah Vihear Temple

BANGKOK, December 20 (TNA) - Senior Cambodian and Thai military officers have initially agreed to jointly conduct a survey and to designate areas where landmines around the ancient Preah Vihear Temple along the common border will be retrieved. Thai Supreme Commander General Thanasak Patimaprakorn told reporters on Thursday that the decision was made earlier this week in Bangkok at a meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Working Group (JWG). General Thanasak said both sides agreed that the joint operations should be complete within April 2013, aimed to pave the way for development projects around the ancient Preah Vihear Temple, in the lead-up to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. According to the Thai armed forces chief, the JWG talks also focused on bilateral cooperation between Bangkok and Phnom Penh on the development of overlapping border areas. The Hague-based International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear Temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute between the two nations and the Thai-Cambodian border has never been fully demarcated, partly because the common border is littered with landmines left from decades of war in Cambodia. (TNA)

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