Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya stressed that Thailand and Cambodia should not bring up accounts of historical conflicts as an impediment to the development of their relationship and urged both countries to use their common heritage to enhance cooperation. He also revealed that he would meet his counterpart in a third country to discuss solutions to the current border problems between Thailand and Cambodia.
In the afternoon of 8 February 2011, the Foreign Minister gave a speech at Thammasat University’s academic seminar on Thai-Cambodian relations, where he focused on Thailand and Cambodia’s mutual commitment to ASEAN in building a peaceful and prosperous ASEAN Community. Foreign Minister Kasit said that past accounts of historical conflicts should not be regarded as an obstacle for cooperation since the two partners had much more in common than they had in differences. Cooperation needed to be a commitment by both sides. Regarding the border issue, both should look at the overall picture since they still have existing development cooperation within multilateral, regional and sub-regional frameworks, which Thailand remained committed to its continued development.
Foreign Minister Kasit emphasised the need to look to the future since history might be incorrectly recorded and may be the origin of negative attitudes towards neighbours. He expressed hope that the content of current history books might be adjusted to more correctly reflect the past, and that education about neighbours would bring about a better understanding and more empathy between neighbours within the region.
During the speech, Foreign Minister Kasit recounted his meeting with the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, as the current ASEAN chair, noting that Indonesia as well as ASEAN also supported cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia and expressed hope that the current conflict would not affect the development of ASEAN. Foreign Minister Kasit also revealed that he would meet with Mr. Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, in a third country to discuss solutions to the border disputes between Thailand and Cambodia.
The Foreign Minister further praised Thammasat University students’ initiative in holding the academic seminar on Thai-Cambodian relations as a way forward in encouraging a knowledge-based society, especially since several global issues and problems had been brought about by globalization. These included transnational crimes, epidemics, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and border problems, for example. These problems required the use of development as an instrument to enhance prosperity and democracy in neighbouring countries, which would lead to the reduction of social disparities and differences. As such, Thailand and her neighbours had a shared commitment under the ASEAN framework to provide aid to ASEAN’s new members, Foreign Minister Kasit said.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th