New Checkpoints on Lao Border

[geovalin]

More border checkpoints will be opened between Cambodia and Laos after both countries agreed to increase bilateral trade yesterday. The decision came after a meeting in Phnom Penh between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Lao counterpart Thongloung Sisoulith after a series of talks related to trade, investment, tourism, illegal border crossings and cross-border peacekeeping.

More information on the new checkpoints will be released soon, assistant to the prime minister Ieng Sophalet told reporters after the meeting. He added that the new checkpoints are being created for the use of citizens from both countries to promote cross-border investment, trade and tourism. While Mr. Sophalet would not say where the new checkpoints will be, a Foreign Ministry statement released earlier this month said one will be built in Preah Vihear province.

The checkpoint’s construction is part of a larger plan to link the two countries with a road and bridge over the Ropov River, making it easy to cross between Preah Vihear and Laos’ Pakse province. Now the only official overland route between the neighbors is through the Voeung Kam-Dom Kralor checkpoint in Stung Treng, opposite Laos’ Pakse province.

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