Laos, Thailand reach agreement on border demarcation project
Laos and Thailand have reached an agreement on the agenda for a meeting to discuss border demarcation between the two countries, which has been broken off for many years.
The agreement was reached at a meeting of senior officials working within the Lao-Thai Border Commission, held in Bangkok, Thailand from May 1 to 3. The Lao delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bounkeuth Sangsomsak.
According to the press release from the ministry, the meeting has agreed on the principles and agenda for the upcoming 9th meeting of the Lao-Thai Border Commission, which will be held in August in Bangkok.
“The agreement reached by the senior officials on the content of the upcoming meeting will open up a new era for border surveys and demarcation activities, which has been idle for six years,” the press release said.
The Lao-Thai border survey and demarcation project, which began in 1997, has installed 204 border markers over 676 km, and it is about 93 percent complete along the common land boundaries, but just 37 percent complete along the total boundaries, of which the Mekong River comprises a considerable part.
Regarding water boundaries, the two sides are establishing a new map of the Mekong River to be used as essential reference for transferring the border lines from a map jointly created by France and Siam, onto a new established map.
In this regard, the senior official meeting has agreed that the two sides will adhere to the French-Siamese agreement dated August 25, 1926 and the 1/25,000 scaling map of the boundaries along the Mekong jointly established by France and Siam from 1929 to 1931.
The newly formed islands in the river will be a part of the country which they stretch furthest into. The two sides have agreed to inform their citizens not to encroach upon each others' islands and beaches.
Laos and Thailand have also decided not to permit cross-border digging of gravel and sand, building dykes or filling up the channel between islands and the riverbank.
“The completion of the Lao-Thai border survey and demarcation project will form part of our valuable heritage for generations to come and will make a significant contribution in helping the boundaries between the two countries become areas of peace, friendship and cooperation for prosperity and mutual trust. It will also help promote trade and investment, and will make crossing the border easier between the two nations” the press release stated.
