The Defence Ministry is establishing a Cambodian-Lao border commission in the interest of combating cross-border crime and facilitating frontier demarcation between the two countries.

According to a declaration signed by National Defence Minister Tea Banh on Friday, the new body will consist of 12 senior military officials, led by Lieutenant General Seak Socheat, the military’s chief of border affairs, as president.

A meeting was held yesterday to select delegates and compose an agenda for an upcoming meeting with Lao counterparts, said Brigadier General Pech Vanna, director of the military’s Cambodian-Thai Relations Border Bureau.

“In fact, in the past, our relations with the Laos side were small in size, between the brigade and forces that were stationed along the border of both countries.

The plan to form this joint commission was [hatched] long ago, but was not decided until now,” he said.