Bangkok: Thailand has appointed two former presidents of an international maritime court to a compulsory conciliation commission under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to support maritime talks with Cambodia. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow announced that he has been approved by the cabinet as the head of the Thai negotiation team, with Songchai Chaipatiyut, the Thai Ambassador to Kuwait, serving as deputy.
According to Thai News Agency, the two additional conciliators selected by Thailand are South African and German nationals, both of whom are former presidents of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). With both Thailand and Cambodia appointing two conciliators each, a fifth member must be chosen within one month to serve as chairperson before formal talks can commence.
Sihasak clarified that the commission does not function as a court but is designed to provide frameworks to assist ongoing bilateral discussions. Thailand maintains that the scope of conciliation should initially focus on maritime boundaries and the continental shelf, rather than joint development zones as proposed by Cambodia.
The commission will examine the overlapping claims to determine the exact extent of the maritime boundaries before addressing options for joint underwater development, Sihasak added.