THAILAND and Cambodia’s foreign ministers exchanged opening statements in Singapore today at the first meeting to settle a sea border dispute under a United Nations agreement providing for compulsory conciliation.

At issue is territory claimed by both that is believed to contain large, exploitable amounts of natural gas and other hydrocarbons.

The decision to take the matter to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) was taken by Cambodia in June after Thailand terminated a 25-year-old memorandum of understanding meant to resolve overlapping maritime claims.

Thailand’s unilateral decision to revoke the agreement followed a sharp deterioration in relations with Cambodia and an outbreak of armed conflict last year. 

The neighbours fought over competing claims to territory along their land border in July and December. 

Several dozen civilians and soldiers on both sides were killed and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow and his Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn led their delegations at the first meeting with the five-member Unclos commission, which began on Monday and is due to conclude tomorrow.

Cambodia called for a peaceful resolution that “serves the peoples of both nations and contributes to peace, cooperation and shared prosperity in the region,” Prak Sokhonn said.

Mr Sihasak said that Thailand had been unwavering in its commitment to uphold international law and peaceful settlement in disputes. He argued that the revoked agreement “had produced no concrete progress,” as the two countries had managed to hold only two meetings in 25 years.

He said Thailand wished to “give negotiations a fresh start” and that it had offered Cambodia an opportunity to hold direct talks, which Cambodia disregarded, before moving on to the Unclos conciliation process.

A fragile ceasefire between the two countries was agreed in late December, but tensions continue, with sporadic incidents and large-scale deployment of military forces.