Cambodia reopening borders and flights
Cambodian officials from provinces bordering Thailand will meet with Thai colleagues to discuss reopening border checkpoints to promote travel, product transfers, and cross-border trade between the two nations.
Ly Sary, deputy governor of Banteay Meanchey province, stated on November 22 that the provincial administration will meet with the Thai side on November 25 to discuss reopening the Poipet International Border Checkpoint and other border crossings to allow cross-border trade.
"According to the meeting's agenda, we want to talk about restarting border controls as usual." "We will also build a new international border checkpoint named Stung Bot, and we will debate drug and human trafficking prevention."
He said that the Thai side asked that Cambodian authorities meet in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo region for negotiations, as well as an assessment of the new Stung Bot International checkpoint’s building progress.
He stated that negotiations on reopening the border occurred after the situation with Covid-19 in Cambodia had improved, with individuals in border districts having already received two doses as well as booster shots.
Ly Sary stated that the remaining issues on the border were human trafficking, in which Cambodians were duped by brokers into illegally crossing the border in pursuit of work in Thailand. Such crossings posed a risk to them.
Soeum Bunrith, Deputy Governor of Battambang Province, stated that reopening the border would require consent from both sides, since Thailand’s Covid-19 issue remained more critical than Cambodia’s.
"Since June, the provinces along the Cambodian-Thai border have allowed normal commodities trade."
However, residents are not yet permitted to resume routine travel, pending an agreement from the Thai government.
"Our side decided to reopen the border as normal with authorization from the Royal Government [of Cambodia]." However, authorization has yet to be granted by the Thai government. So, normally, the two parties must first agree.'' he said, adding that his province government is awaiting a decision from the Thai side.
The border crossings in Koh Kong province have been reopened for regular goods transit, according to Samkhit Vien, Koh Kong provincial deputy governor, but the formal reopening of the border has yet to be considered.
"We have yet to get information from the Thai side about the request to reopen the borders." "Our side has no objections to reopening the border, but Thai side approval is required."
In the meanwhile...
Flights between Malaysia and Cambodia have resumed
The crew of a Malaysia Airlines flight that landed at Phnom Penh International Airport on Friday is greeted by Cambodia Airport personnel.
Flights between Malaysia and Cambodia have resumed after being halted for nearly a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
