Vietnam hails 84 percent completion of Cambodia border demarcation

Nguyen Minh Vu, Standing Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Chairman of the National Border Committee, said at a conference Friday to review 20 years (1999-2019) of the border demarcation that the results achieved were very important and historic.

It highlighted the mission to form a clear border between the two countries, creating favorable conditions for border management, ensuring security and order in the border areas.

Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said territorial borders and national sovereignty were sacred things.

The completion of 84 percent of border demarcation and marker erections between Vietnam and Cambodia is an important milestone and a great achievement, he said.

“We have an agreement with Cambodia that the two sides will continue to negotiate and soon complete the demarcation and marking the remaining 16 percent of the border.”

Speaking at the conference, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said that on the basis of the 1985 treaty on national border planning, from 1986-1988, Vietnam and Cambodia completed the demarcation of about 200 km on the border and erected 72 markers.

However, in early 1989, for some technical reasons as well as the political situation of Cambodia, the process was paused. In 1999, when the situation in Cambodia has stabilized, border negotiations resumed.

On October 10, 2005, the two countries signed an additional treaty, following which the Vietnamese prime minister approval of a master plan for border demarcation between the two countries.

By September 2019, the two countries had set up 315 main landmarks, 1,511 sub-landmarks and 221 markers, demarcating more than 1,044 km, about 84 percent of the border, which is shown on the topographic maps of Vietnam and Cambodia.

Later, the prime ministers of both countries signed two documents recognizing the achievements of the demarcation and marking work.

The border between the two countries starts at the Vietnam – Laos – Cambodia border junction and ends at marker 314 on the border of Kien Giang Province in Vietnam with Kampot Province in Cambodia.