Thai-Cambodia Border Committee Reaches Agreement

SA KAEO, Aug 22 (TNA) – The Thai-Cambodia Regional Border Committee (RBC) meeting concluded with a consensus on 13 existing ceasefire agreements from a previous General Border Committee (GBC) meeting.

The meeting, held at the 19th Military Circle in Sa Kaeo province, was chaired on the Thai side by Lt. Gen. Ammarit Boonsuya, Commander of the First Army Region, and on the Cambodian side by Gen. Ek Sam Oun, Commander of of the 5th Military Region.

Additionally, Cambodia acknowledged three of the four new proposals put forth by Thailand.

The three new proposals included a joint agreement to conduct humanitarian mine clearance, an effort to be further discussed at the next General Border Committee (GBC) meeting.

Both nations also agreed to cooperate in combating transnational crime, specifically call center scams, with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior serving as the platform for discussions with relevant Thai agencies.

A third proposal was approved to establish a Coordination Group and a Local Border Committee to resolve local-level issues.

However, the Cambodian delegation did not agree to discuss violations of the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), stating the matter was outside the RBC’s authority. The Cambodian side recommended using the Joint Boundary Committee (JBC) mechanism instead, although Thailand affirmed its intention to present the issue to the GBC for consideration. – 819 (TNA)