Cambodia’s PM Hun Sen off to Vietnam to sign border agreements

PHNOM PENH, Oct 2, 2019, The Khmer Times. Prime Minister Hun Sen will pay an official visit to Vietnam on Saturday and is set to meet his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc to sign two border demarcation agreements. Var Kimhong, chairman of Cambodia Border Affairs Committee, yesterday said the two leaders are set to meet on October 5 to discuss the result of both countries’ border demarcation works, noting that 84 percent of the border had been agreed on from 2005 until now, reported The Khmer Times.

“There are two agreements,” he said. “Both Prime Ministers will sign a document to support a 1985 supplemental protocol and 2005 agreement on border demarcation, as well as a document to recognise the demarcations as legal documents.”

Mr Kimhong noted that the committee has finished printing 92 new maps based on 84 percent of agreed borderlines, which will also be up for discussion.

“These 1/25,000 scale maps were drawn using technology,” he said. “We also placed images of border posts on them to make it easier to identify the areas.”

Mr Kimhong said the meeting also aims to speed up resolution to an ongoing dispute over the remaining 16 percent of the border yet to be demarcated, adding that the Cambodian government has already requested France for assistance in sections being disputed with Vietnam.

Cambodia shares a 1,270-kilometre border in the east with Vietnam. Last year, Cambodia and Vietnam planted 40 border posts in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri provinces after the two countries finished demarcating the 84 percent of their shared borders.