Laos new ambassador to Thailand, Ouane Phommachack, expresses confidence that Laos and Thailand will complete the demarcation of their joint borders by next year.
Mr. Phommachack, who had been in charge of border demarcation since 1996 until his recent appointment to be the new ambassador to Thailand, says the land border demarcation is 92% completed, with about 60 kilometers remaining to be demarked, out of the 795 km-long border. He adds that the delaying problem is only technical due to the destruction of watersheds in three areas.
The two countries, however, have said before that they expected to finish land border demarcation by the year 2000 and river border demarcation by 2003. But neither has been completed, and river border survey has not even started.
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