Fostering greater goodwill: Hun Manet (left) and Srettha speaking at a joint conference at the Government House in Bangkok. — AFP
THE country’s Prime Minister Hun Manet arrived in Thai capital Bangkok on his first official visit since assuming his post last year, seeking to renew the close ties the two countries have maintained in recent times.
In addition to meeting with his Thai counterpart, Srettha Thavisin yesterday, Hun Manet presided over the signing of several documents on bilateral cooperation and addressed a Thailand-Cambodia business forum. He was also to have a royal audience with King Maha Vajiralongkorn,
Hun Manet’s scheduled one-day visit “is an important opportunity for both countries to further strengthen bilateral cooperation”, the Thai Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
This is “especially in the economic development of border areas, promotion of two-way trade and investment, closer transportation connectivity and tourism cooperation as well as fostering closer ties between the peoples of the two kingdoms,” it added.
Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona earlier said Hun Manet’s visit would reaffirm the close relationship established by his father and predecessor, Hun Sen.
Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister last year after 38 years in power, including periods of tensions with Thailand, especially over territorial disputes.
Several Cambodian opposition figures and other government critics who fled to Thailand to escape arrest and persecution under Hun Sen’s government were recently detained in Bangkok in an apparent effort to quash possible protests against Hun Manet.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, issued a statement appealing to Thai authorities to release the detained Cambodian refugees.
They must also “cease the crackdown on Cambodian rights and democracy activists who have fled to Thailand”, he added.
“Hun Manet is proving to be the same kind of human rights abusing dictator that his father was.
“Thailand should not cooperate with his efforts to expand transnational repression,” Robertson said. — AP
