Cambodia and Thailand have constructive talks on Overlapping Claims Area (OCA)

By Ek Tha

Press and Quick Reaction Unit

PHNOM PEN, July 27, 2012 (PRU) – Deputy Prime Minister His Excellency Dr. Sok An said on Friday that Cambodia’s position wants to reach the joint development proposal on the OCA for the benefit of the two countries while the Head of  25-member delegation of Thai Senate, H.E. Suradet Jiratiticharoen, said he will convey the Cambodia’s message to his government.

His Excellency Dr. Sok An said in the meeting that Cambodia’s breakthrough proposal for Joint Development Area (JDA) concerning the OCA with Thailand will benefit the two countries in many ways.

The Cambodia’s proposal of sharing the profit 50:50 from the joint development of OCA would be a best practice, given many countries used this approach to solve their issues of OCA.

“Cambodia’s approach would take a couple of years to solve the OCA issue”, said His Excellency Dr. Sok An, adding that Thais' approach would take much longer time.

“Both Cambodia and Thailand need the resources of oil and gas to develop our respective countries, so we should not leave our natural resources of oil and gas to continue to sleep under the seabed,” Dr. Sok An said in the meeting.

The OCA is believed by experts that it is rich in natural resource of oil and gas, said Deputy Prime Minister Sok An who is also chairing the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA).

His Excellency Sok An also said that the two Asian nations have spent more than 10 years—including a memorandum of understanding on a proposed joint development signed by Cambodia and Thailand in 2001—an effort to seek a proper solution; yet no solution has been found since.

Senator Suradet Jiratiticharoen—who is also the Committee Chairman on energy of Thai Senate—said in the meeting that his legislative body would support a move of the government of Thailand in solving the OCA issue with Cambodia.

Thailand would also look to support Cambodia in the area of building power plants, through investment, near the border as well as accepting Cambodian trainees to study in Thailand in the area of energy.