FM to visit siem reap for border talks

It would be the third such meeting following the two in July and August between former foreign minister Tej Bunnag and Hor Namhong.

Sompong, who succeeded Tej more than a month ago, would discuss the areas with overlapping claims near the Khmer sanctuaries of Ta Muen Thom and Ta Muen Kwai.

The agenda was set at the second ministerial meeting in Thailand's resort beach town of ChaAm in August, ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said yesterday.

"We are glad to see the restoration of a good atmosphere and resumption of negotiations between the two countries," he said.

Thailand and Cambodia have been engaged in a war of words since July after the Preah Vihear Temple was inscribed on the list of world heritage sites. The tensions escalated into a border skirmish last month that claimed the lives of four soldiers on both sides and wounded many others.

A new round of ongoing boundary demarcation talks with Cambodia would be held from November 1014 after Parliament gave the goahead.

Vasin Teeravechyan, former ambassador to South Korea and cochairman of the ThaiCambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC), would lead the Thai team.

The JBC might pick the disputed area near Preah Vihear Temple as a priority, Tharit added.