Thai Foreign Minister scheduled to visit both UN and ASEAN

Foreign Minister schedule to visit both UN and ASEAN to clarify border issue

BANGKOK, 13 February 2011 (NNT)-The Secretary to the Foreign Minister Chawanon Intharakomansut has told the press that the Foreign Minister will travel to Indonesia only to clarify the Preah Vihear issue with ASEAN rather than to plea for intervention as the public may have understood.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is set to present facts to foreign ministers of the ASEAN nations about a series of gunfights between Thai and Cambodian soldiers. Mr. Chawanon stressed that the purpose of the visit was not to ask ASEAN to mediate between Thailand and Cambodia.

Mr. Kasit, who is scheduled to fly to New York next Monday to brief the United Nations Security Council on the current situation along the border, is also expected to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the outcomes on Tuesday at 9 a.m.

The Foreign Minister said he would emphasize to the U.N. Security Council that the border issue could be solved bilaterally within the Joint Border Committee’s framework.

-- NNT 2011-02-13