A THAI joint-venture company signed an agreement with the Ministry of Tourism on
Sept 4 to build a luxury hotel near the ancient Angkor temples.
Thai
Nakorn Patana and the Minor Group will build a 210-room four-star hotel between
Siem Reap and the temples with the first phase of 150 rooms expected to be ready
in 1997, according to a ministry statement.
"The project will provide
hundreds of jobs during construction and thereafter in operation," Tourism
Minister Veng Sreyvuth said.
"This is the first major tourism investment
project signed by the ministry with Thailand and it strengthens the good
relationship and cooperation with our friendly neighbors," he
said.
Visiting Thai Foreign Minister Kasem Kasemsri, his Cambodian
counterpart Ung Huot, and Co-Premiers Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen
watched as the pact was signed.
Angkor Wat and other temples from the 9th
to 15th centuries are Cambodia's biggest tourist draw, and numbers of visitors
are increasing.
Kasem, meanwhile, was striking more deals with Cambodian
authorities during his visit.
A joint Thai-Cambodian agreement on a joint
border commission and extradition treaty was discussed, and both likely soon to
be finalized.
Huot and Kasem discussed problems of overlapping claims to
areas potentially rich in oil and gas reserves, while Kasem pledged to return 13
ancient Cambodian artefacts seized from smugglers.
He did not say whether
the two sides had discussed the opening of more checkpoints on their long
border, though Thai officials had earlier said the issue would be
raised.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that a border
mechanism agreement was being pushed ahead.
