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VN, Cambodia review border work, sign new border treaty

VGP – PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Cambodian counterpart Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Saturday co-chaired a conference to review Viet Nam-Cambodia land border demarcation and marker planting work in the 2006-2019 period.

October 05, 2019 9:49 PM GMT+7

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen shake hands after signing the Supplementary Treaty to the 1985 Treaty on the Delimitation of National Boundaries and the 2005 Supplementary Treaty between Viet Nam and Cambodia in Melia Hotel, Ha Noi on October 5, 2019. Photo: VGP

The event is part of the agenda of the official visit to Viet Nam by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen from September 4-5.

At the conference, the two PMs signed a Supplementary Treaty to the 1985 Treaty on the Delimitation of National Boundaries and the 2005 Supplementary Treaty between Viet Nam and Cambodia.

The pair also witnessed the signing ceremony of the Protocol on land border demarcation and marker planting between the two nations.

Viet Nam and Cambodia share the border line of 1,245km passing 10 provinces of Viet Nam and nine provinces of Cambodia.

Both sides started doundary delimitation and border marker planting since 1986 on the basis of the signed treaties. As of December 2018, they have completed 84% of the workload.

The two countries have opened 41 pairs of border gates, including 10 international border gates, along the shared border. A joint working group on Viet Nam-Cambodia border gates was established to seek ways to boost the development of the sides’ border gate system. 

Speaking at the conference, PM Phuc emphasized the sacredness of territorial sovereignty and national boundaries of all nations.

The Vietnamese Government chief hailed the completion of 84% of the workload, highlighting that this is a really significant achievement of their joint efforts in settling border issues throughout the last 36 years.

The freshly-signed documents, along with other related treaties and agreements, will create an important legal framework for both sides to manage and ensure security, defense and social order and safety at border areas  and to promote bilateral cooperation and development in respective countries,  Phuc said.

The signing ceremony sent a strong message on the two nations’ willingness and determination to building the border line of peace, friendship, cooperation for mutual development on the basis of respecting territorial integrity and mutual interests.

For the rest of the workload (16%), Phuc said leaders of the two countries will continue directing the completion on the basis of mutual understanding and respect for international law, especially the related treaties signed between the two countries.

Meanwhile, PM Hun Sen affirmed that the signing of these two historic documents demonstrated proud step forward in the process of bilateral cooperation in settling border issues.

“This is also the result of the efforts made by the Vietnamese Prime Minister and me along with the Viet Nam-Cambodia joint border committee and authorities at all levels of the two countries over the past 14 years, since after the signing of the supplementary treaty in 2005,” he said.

Hun Sen said Cambodia planned to pay greater attention to the development of border areas, including the development of roads, markets and production facilities, to bring practical benefits to border residents of the two countries and to contribute to enhancing cooperation among countries in the Mekong Sub-region and ASEAN as well.

He called on the local authorities and people of the two countries to join hands in maintaining and protecting the border markers.

By Thuy Dung