THE plan to establish cross-border insurance to boost trade and tourism among neighboring countries has stalled under Thai political turmoil. “Until now, cross-border insurance has not yet started up, because of the political issue with Thailand,” Chhay Rattanak, chairman of the General Insurance Association of Cambodia (GIAC), told the Post Tuesday. “We’ve lost contact with them for a while.” Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are all awaiting a response from Thailand, he said. In August, six out of seven insurance companies in Cambodia signed an agreement to create an insurance pool for cross-border traffic. Chhay Rattanak told the Post at the time that GIAC would launch the scheme in the first quarter of 2010 at the latest.