AKP Phnom Penh, November 21, 2025 --  Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to dispatch a joint survey team to conduct on-the-ground work to address border issues in Chouk Chey and Prey Chan villages of O’Beichoan commune, O’Chrov district, Banteay Meanchey province. The work concerns the surveying and placement of temporary border markers along the section between boundary posts No. 42 and No. 47.

The State Secretariat of Border Affairs released the information in a statement this evening, highlighting three key points:

1. Since 2006, the joint survey team has been carrying out fieldwork to locate the precise positions of 74 concrete border markers originally erected by the Commission of Delimitation between Indochina and Siam between 1919 and 1920. This includes markers No. 42 to No. 47. The work has been conducted with the utmost care and responsibility, based on French-era legal documents, particularly the minutes (Procès-Verbaux) of the Delimitation Commission of 1908-1909 and 1919-1920.

2. Both sides have so far conducted exploratory work only, particularly between posts No. 42 and No. 47 – verifying the exact locations of the markers. No practical demarcation work has yet taken place on the ground in this section.

3. The two countries have agreed to send a working group to prepare a plan and begin actual fieldwork from Nov. 18, 2025. The team will measure and install temporary markers between boundary markers No. 42 and No. 47 in O’Beichoan commune. This is a continuation of the phased process toward the actual on-the-ground demarcation, in line with the Memorandum of Understanding 2000, the Terms of Reference 2003, previous Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meeting minutes, and the Technical Instructions agreed upon by both sides.

The State Secretariat of Border Affairs called on the public to place confidence in the Royal Government and the Cambodian JBC, affirming that both consistently uphold the highest professional integrity and prioritise national interest, particularly the protection of territorial integrity and sovereignty, while strictly adhering to international law and respecting the established Cambodia-Thailand border inherited from the Commission of Delimitation between Indochina and Siam.

Heads of Cambodian and Thai technical operation teams meet on Nov. 18 at the Poipet International Border Gate to discuss the implementation plan in accordance with the recently approved Technical Instructions.

By C. Nika