Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and his counterpart, Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, met on November 25 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Phnom Penh, to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the future. During the two-day official visit of Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh in Phnom Penh from November 25-26, according to Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who spoke to reporters after the meeting, the two prime ministers discussed expanding trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong continued to say that the two prime ministers have also discussed border demarcation for the two neighboring countries and agreed to continue to work hard in Photo: Ssoy SsopheaKoh KongG provvincCe does…Provincial officials and the people of Koh Kong have said that… page 11order to successfully resolve borders
issue and sign an agreement on the permanent borders of the two countries in the near future. “We have signed an agreement on border demarcations and have determined that the temporary demarcation
markers that have already
been planted by the border technical committees of both sides will become the permanent demarcation
markers in the future,” he said at the press conference after the meeting between the two prime ministers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
in Phnom Penh. Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and his counterpart, Bouasone Bouphavanh, jointly presented the agreement on border demarcations, which was signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. “There still remains about 12 percent of border demarcations to be planted between the two countries;
however, we expect that 100 percent of the border markers will be planted to settle this in the near future,” Namhong said. “We have not fixed a clear time yet because we are waiting for technical working
groups to take measurements beforehand.” Regarding the border demarcations,
Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong said that so far Cambodia and Laos have achieved 88 percent of border demarcations. He added that the two countries are expecting the planting of the border markers to be completed in the near future so that the government will be able to start developing those areas soon. He went on to say that the areas which were not ready for boundary posts are in O’Tanga, located along the Mekong riverside. Deputy Prime Minister Namhong pointed out that during the Prime Ministers also discussed raising
the number of student scholarships exchanged between Cambodia and Laos in the future. The Lao Prime Minister also invited Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen to attend the opening ceremony of the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, the capital of the Laos, which will take place in early December 2009. Koy Koung, Spokesman and Under Secretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation, said that the bond of friendship, solidarity and cooperation between Cambodia and Laos has been strengthened and improved. During his two-day official visit in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh was also received in Royal Audience by His Majesty King Norodom
Sihamoni, King of Cambodia, and paid courtesy calls on Cambodian Senate President Samdech Chea Sim and National Assembly President Samdech Heng Samrin. (SEAW)