THAI DEFENCE Minister Gen. Nattapol Nakphanit and his entourage flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend the second Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC) meeting this morning (Oct. 23) after progress was made at a Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meeting in Chanthaburi last night, PPTVHD 36 said.
The JBC meeting, presided over by former Thai Ambassador to Phnom Penh Mr. Prasarn Prasarnvinitchai and Mr. Lam Chea, Cambodian minister in charge of State Secretariate of Border Affairs. agreed to install temporary border markers at Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kaeo villages in Sa Kaeo province with this to be submitted to their respective governments for approval.
During an announcement at 12.45 a.m. this morning Prasarn said the meeting was held in an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie. Both sides have assigned the Joint Technical Sub-Commission (JTSC) to install new boundary markers to replace 15 that are either damaged or missing at their original locations.
Locations of three boundary markers that have now submerged will be jointly determined at a later date.
Both sides also agreed to discuss and finalise technical instructions (TI) for surveying and placing temporary markers in an urgent area, that is from Boundary Marker 42 to 47 at Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kaeo villages.
Furthermore the two sides agreed to quickly revise the Terms of Reference 2003 (TOR 2003) on incorporating new technologies such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to orthophoto maps which would facilitate border demarcation.
Gen. Natthapol said before leaving that the outcome of the JBC meeting last night was satisfactory with over 90% of the issues tackled and only a few more details remaining to be discussed at the GBC meeting today.
As the Cambodian side had refused to discuss Thailand’s move to build a border fence to prevent conflict and halt illegal immigration last night, with their representative saying he did not have the authority to do so, this will be raised at today’s meeting.
He added that there was no cause for concern with only a little further discussion with the Cambodian side left for today.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page – Defence Minister Gen. Nattapol Nakphanit. Top photo – PPTVHD 36 , Front Page photo – Amarin TV
Insert – The Joint Border Commission meeting at Chanthaburi. Photo – Thai Foreign Ministry
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