Military officials, led by
Lt. Gen. Witsanu Sriyapan, director-general of Thai Border Military Affairs,
and Gen. Bualiang Champaphan, deputy chief of staff for the Lao People’s
Army (both seated, center) pose for a commemorative photo after the meeting.
Boonlua Chatree
Armies from Thailand and Laos will work together to
curtail drug and human trafficking, smuggling of stolen vehicles and illegal
logging along their mutual border.
Lt. Gen. Witsanu Sriyapan, director-general of Thai
Border Military Affairs, and Gen. Bualiang Champaphan, deputy chief of staff
for the Lao People’s Army, signed the border cooperation agreement July 21
at the Montien Hotel in Pattaya. Representatives met a day later in Ubon
Ratchathani to work out operational details of the accord.
The agreement set the stage for joint border patrols by
army personnel from both sides. More cooperation was also urged on
curtailing drug imports from Laos and recovering cars and motorbikes stolen
in Thailand from being smuggled into Laos. It will also allow authorities
from each side to arrest nationals of the other country engaged in illegal
logging.
Bualiang said the agreement will bring peace and
cooperation to the Thai-Laotian border, benefitting residents of each
country.
The Pattaya meeting, the second of the year, attracted
top brass from Thailand’s military establishment, including Col. Kosit
Chinwalan, assistant Army ambassador to Vientiane, Capt. Supapat Yutthawong
of the Royal Thai Navy’s operations center, and officials from Thailand’s
embassy in Vientiane, and the ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs.
