Tuesday, 4 March 2008

Thai premier backs inclusion of Cambodian temple in UNESCO list

2008-03-03

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Kyodo) - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told Cambodia on Monday his government does not object to its move to have the border temple of Preah Vihear, which has long been involved in a territorial dispute between the two countries, included on the World Heritage List, a Cambodian government spokesman said.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told reporters the visiting Thai premier, who arrived Monday for a two-day visit, offered the assurances in a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

It comes in the wake of reports that Thailand was objecting to Cambodia's move to have the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization inscribe Preah Vihear temple on the World Heritage List because the two countries have not yet arrived at a demarcation agreement on land around the ruins.

The Thai News Agency quoted Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama as saying Monday that while the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, "the move by Cambodia to push the temple on the UNESCO World Heritage List should neither affect Thailand's rights in the overlapping zone nor at the border."

The temple, built between mid-10th and early 12th centuries, is located in Cambodia's northern province of Preah Vihear, just opposite Thailand's Sisaket Province.

Khieu Kanharith said UNESCO is expected to accept Cambodia's application, originally made in October 2001, when its World Heritage Committee meets in Quebec, Canada, in July this year.

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