Move to utilise 2001 MOU on maritime negotiations

October 4, 2011
The Nation

The Foreign Ministry will put a proposal to the Cabinet in two weeks to continue the 2001 memorandum of understanding (MOU) on maritime deals in the Gulf of Thailand, the ministry's spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said yesterday.
A ministry meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday concluded that the MOU was useful as a framework for negotiations with Cambodia over maritime resources in overlapping areas claimed on the continental shelf, Thani said.
The Cabinet of former PM Abhisit Vejjajiva decided in November 2009 to denounce the MOU after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen picked former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra as a government adviser.
The previous government feared Thaksin might disclose inside information to Hun Sen that might favour Phnom Penh.

However the MOU is still effective as Abhisit's government did not formally notify Cambodia that it had been revoked.
If the current Cabinet under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra agrees to continue using the MOU, it would be submitted to Parliament for approval of as a negotiating framework, Thani said.
"Any negotiations would be conducted in accordance with the 2001 MOU, transparently for the national interest," he said.
Yesterday's meeting saw the appointment of deputy director of Asean Affairs Pornchai Danvivathana as legal adviser to the joint technical committee for maritime negotiations. The committee itself would be co-chaired by Surapong and Cambodian Deputy Premier Sok An.
Career diplomat Vasin Teeravechyan was appointed as chief of a sub-technical committee.
Thailand and Cambodia signed the MOU in 2001 to kickstart negotiations on overlapping claims for the seabed in the Gulf of Thailand. The joint technical committee set up under the MOU would talk to delimit the sea boundary, as well as establish a joint development area in the Gulf.
Negotiations were stalled over the past two years due to political conflict and poor relations with Cambodia.