Foreign minister claims border talks productive

(BangkokPost.com) - The efforts to work out the Thai-Cambodian border dispute have progressed considerably, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Sompong Amornvivat said on Sunday morning.

During the Government of the People programme on the state-run National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) channel, Mr Sompong said he planned to ask the parliament to consider the framework of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Border Committee (JBC) this Tuesday.

Mr Sompong said Prime Minister and Defence Minister Somchai Wongsawat had informal talks with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen at the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem). He said both sides would like to cooperate and work out the border row peacefully through bilateral talks to spur investment of the two countries.

No forces will be used to solve the problem, the foreign minister added.

Meanwhile, he said the Thai premier had the opportunity to exchange views and ideas with foreign delegates at the Asem and they discussed ways to prepare for and deal with the global economic crisis.

As for the Asian Summit, which will be in Thailand in December, Mr Sompong said the meeting could be moved from Bangkok to the northern province of Chiang Mai, but this matter has not been concluded yet.

Commenting on ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s letter to foreign media to explain his cases while referring to a group of privileged elites in Thailand, Mr Sompong said he had not look into the details and it would take a week to examine the letter and gather more relevant information.
He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will give a fair treatment to all sides. However, the ministry will not get involved with the extradition of Pol Lt-Col Thaksin, but it is ready to give full support to the Attorney-General, the minister said.