Unesco To Discuss Temple Plan Next Year: Minister

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Friday, 30 July 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
World Heritage Preah Vihear temple sits on the edge of a plateau that dominates the plain of Cambodia.

“The UN World Heritage Committee decided to consider Cambodia’s Preah Vihear management plan to discuss in the next session.”

Following an international meeting with Unesco in Brazil this week, Council Minister Sok An said Friday the UN body will postpone consideration of a management plan for the contentious Preah Vihear temple in a session next year.

Cambodia issued a management plan for the World Heritage temple this week, against opposition from Thailand, which claims a disputed strip of land near the temple.

“The UN World Heritage Committee decided to consider Cambodia’s Preah Vihear management plan to discuss in the next session,” Sok An said in a public statement from Brazil that was carried by national television.

Thai Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti said he approved of the postponement.

A delayed discussion will “allow us to have more time to have bilateral discussions and communications to find the common and the mutual agreement between two countries,” he said in remarks quoted by international media.

Preah Vihear temple, an 11th-Century structure that sits on an escarpment overlooking the plains of Preah Vihear province, remains at the center of an ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, who each have troops amassed along the northern frontier.

At least eight soldiers have died in brief skirmishes stemming from the standoff.