PM: It's a new era for Cambodia, Thailand

BANGKOK, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to discuss troop withdrawals from the area near the Preah Vihear temple, where clashes killed several people.

The agreement to meet is a sign relations between the neighboring countries are improving, the Bangkok Post reported Friday.

Commanders from Thailand's Second Army Region and Cambodia's Division 4 will lead the Regional Border Committee meeting, which is set for Aug. 23-24 in Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand.

"I declare a new era of cooperation between [the countries] now that Thailand is ruled by the Pheu Thai Party," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said.

"What was going on in the last few years, which I considered nightmarish cooperation between the two countries, is now over. Now we have to start negotiations at a bilateral level in order to ease the tensions," Hun Sen said.

Hun Sen urged the two sides to set up a General Border Commission to settle disputes near the ancient temple, where border clashes earlier this year left several people dead.