Archive for August 27th, 2008
PM hails Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia T-junction point agreement
VNA – August 27, 2008
VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hailed the fresh signing of an agreement on tri-junction point of land boundaries of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
He called it “an event of major historical significance that paves the way for the three countries to cooperate for mutual development and practical benefits”, and lauded the negotiators for the efforts they had made for the signing of the agreement.PM Dung made those remarks at his reception in Hanoi on Aug. 26 of Cambodian Senior Minister in charge of Border Affairs of the Council of Ministers Var Kim Hong and Lao Deputy Foreign Minister Phongsavath Boupha who came for the signing of the agreement.
He called it “an event of major historical significance that paves the way for the three countries to cooperate for mutual development and practical benefits”, and lauded the negotiators for the efforts they had made for the signing of the agreement.
PM Dung made those remarks at his reception in Hanoi on Aug. 26 of Cambodian Senior Minister in charge of Border Affairs of the Council of Ministers Var Kim Hong and Lao Deputy Foreign Minister Phongsavath Boupha who came for the signing of the agreement.
He said following the agreement, the three countries should continue working on affairs pertaining to the defining of the Vietnam-Cambodia land borderline and the augment and strengthening of the system of border markers on the Vietnam-Laos land boundary.
The PM also said the three countries should work together to build their shared borders of peace, friendship, cooperation and development to serve the Cambodia-Lao-Vietnam Development Triangle Programme as reached by the three prime ministers.
He affirmed that the Party, State and people of Vietnam will do their best to foster their friendship with Laos and Cambodia, and expressed his hope that the three countries closely work for mutual development and benefit for their people.
The Cambodian and Lao officials agreed that the signing of the tri-junction point agreement was a historical event that reflects mutual trust and mutual understanding of the three countries in a bid to build their borderlines of peace, friendship and cooperation.
Cambodian Minister Var Kim Hong stated his country will reinforce cooperation with Vietnam to ensure the tempo of border demarcation and border marker planting.
He said he expected at least 100 border markers on the two countries’ shared borderline to be planted within this year and the planting of all border markers to be finished prior to 2012.
Meanwhile, Lao Deputy Foreign Minister Phongsavath Boupha affirmed his country will push for the planting of border markers on the two countries’ borderline to help bolster trade, tourism and other exchange of activities between local people living along the borderline.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos sign border crossing agreement
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos agreed on the tri-junction point of their land boundaries in Hanoi on August 26.
An agreement to this effect was signed by Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Dung, Senior Minister in charge of Border Affairs of the Council of Ministers of Cambodia Var Kim Hong and Lao Deputy Foreign Minister Phongsavath Boupha.
Under the agreement, the tri-junction point was defined to be on a mountain peak which is 1,086 m above the sea level where the borderlines of Vietnam’s Kon Tum Province, Laos’ Attapu Province and Cambodia’s Rattanakiri Province meet.
The border crossing was drawn in a map that was attached to the agreement and was verified by the three sides.
The border crossing agreement was made in the spirit of upholding the principles of equality and accuracy to ensure the tri-junction point is clear, easily recognisable, and favourable for the management of the three parties’ borderlines.
The agreement was also made to ensure that the national boundary of each country which was defined in the existing border treaties agreed by the three countries is not changed.
The signing of this agreement reflected the determination and spirit of solidarity and friendship of the governments and people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in settling border and territory-related issues.
At the signing ceremony, all three countries’ representatives affirmed their resolve to complete works related to the on-the-field demarcation of their land borders.
They pledged to spare no efforts to build, protect and manage the shared border into the one of peace, friendship, cooperation and development to support the implementation of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle programme as agreed by the three Prime Ministers.
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FTA with Asean set to be sealed by this weekend
The meet, which will be attended by commerce minister Kamal Nath, will take place on Friday, the last day of the annual meeting.
Official sources told ET the agreement was expected to sail through at the meet as the trade negotiations committee had finally drafted a pact which was acceptable to all Asean members as well as India. “All the hard work has already been done. The negotiations committee had to meet numerous times before everybody finally found the draft acceptable. There is no scope for further changes now,” an official said.
The Asean includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
Sources pointed out that a date for starting and concluding the negotiations on services and investments would also be fixed at the meet.
Initially, these two issues were to be negotiated with goods as part of a comprehensive economic co-operation agreement However, Asean later insisted talks on goods should be concluded first in the form of an FTA and talks on services and investments should happen subsequently.
“India is very keen on services and investment but has been forced to wait till the goods agreement was in place. Now, we will ensure that the negotiations begin as soon as possible,” the official added.
Under the FTA, India will open its market for about 96% of the traded commodities with Asean over the next 10 years. It will continue to protect about 480 items from duty cuts which includes sensitive farm and industrial products like automobile components.
The FTA will be endorsed at the highest level at the India-Asean meet in Bangkok in December which will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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US ambassador hopeful for Cambodia as mission ends
Outgoing US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli and Prime Minister Hun Sen at a ceremony Monday. (HENG CHIVOAN)
CITING closer cooperation in a number of areas, including military and counter-terrorism measures, departing US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli bid farewell Monday to a diplomatic tour that he described as “by far the best” in his 28 years in the US Foreign Service.
“The sense of mutual respect, appreciation and even friendship between [America and Cambodia] is improving,” he said.
He added, however, that “a few years of good relations can’t really compensate for decades of misunderstandings and distrust”, referring to the long thaw in relations that has taken place since Cambodia was a communist pariah state.
But while Mussomeli has never shied away from criticising Cambodia’s most obvious flaws, he told reporters that the Kingdom’s political and economic climates had improved fundamentally during his tenure.
“The new generation of Cambodians are not as easy to intimidate, not as easy to manipulate,” he said, adding that Cambodia remains one of the “last frontiers” in Southeast Asia – a largely undiscovered country with vast potential in terms of future growth.
“IT SEEMS LIKE THERE ARE TWO COUNTRIES OCCUPYING THE SAME SPACE.”
In the last 18 months alone, four American business delegations, including majors such as General Electric, Microsoft and Carghill, have come to Cambodia in a development that Mussomeli said was “remarkable because before that, we had not had any US business delegations since before the Vietnam War”.
He credited the Kingdom’s market-friendly policies as one of the reasons why businesses from the US have been, over the course of his tour, slowly rediscovering Cambodia.
No China contest
Mussomeli also downplayed the suggestion that the US and China are vying for influence in Cambodia.
“If there is one thing I would hope for in the future, that would be better coordination (among donors)…. I would like to see in the future that China comes into that fold,” he said, referring to the fact that China is not a member of the Consultative Group of donors – which includes European countries, Japan and the US.
On the eve of his departure, the ambassador described his memories of the country as bittersweet and often contradictory.
Sometimes “it seems like there are two countries occupying the same space”, he said, in an allusion Cambodia’s extremes of poverty and wealth.
Mussomeli introduced Piper Campbell as the temporary charge d’affair until his expected replacement, Carol Rodley, is sworn in by the US Senate.
That could happen, he said, in a couple of months, but might possibly be delayed until next year.
| Written by Brendan Brady | |
| Tuesday, 26 August 2008 |
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