PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has signed an agreement in Thailand to create a ‘Border Pass’ for workers living along the Cambodian-Thai border.
The agreement will allow Cambodian workers, especially those who reside along the border with Thailand, to work temporarily on the condition that they return the same day.
They also agreed to passes that allow migrant workers to stay in Thailand for ten days or up to a month. Mr. Namhong said there are over 700,000 Cambodian migrants working in Thailand.
Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand who had missed renewing their working permits are allowed to renew them until March 2016, Mr. Namhong said.
According to figures from Thailand’s Office of Foreign Workers Administration, 738,947 Cambodian migrants, 696,338 workers and 42,609 dependents were registered at Thailand’s one-stop service centers for visas and working permits last year.
Artifacts to Be Returned to Siem Reap
Mr. Namhong also said Thailand would return 16 smuggled artifacts to Siem Reap province.
Speaking at Phnom Penh International Airport on Sunday, he said the Cambodian artifacts would be sent back to the Kingdom from Thailand soon.
Mr. Namhong declined to comment on when the artifacts would be returned, only saying “it will be soon.”
Thai authorities reportedly confiscated 43 ancient Cambodian artifacts from smugglers in 1999. Seven of them were returned by Thai authorities in 2009.
Cambodia sent experts to examine more artifacts in Thailand after Thai authorities seized hundreds of pieces from smugglers.
Widespread looting of Cambodia’s antiquities occurred during Cambodia’s two-decade civil war which began in the late 1960s, with many items smuggled into Thailand for sale in international antique markets or to private collectors.
Last year, US auction houses and museums returned five 1,000-year-old statues, which were smuggled from Cambodia in the 1970s, back to the Kingdom.
Mr. Namhong said that the remaining 20 artifacts needed to be authenticated.
By: Chea Vannak, Khmer Times