PHNOM PENH, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers here on Monday pledged to continue to seek for peaceful and amicable deal on the border issues, and set the next agenda within the first week of February.

"The meeting today has a good point that Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya will try to persuade (his government) to solve the border issues as soon as possible," Hor Namhong, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told reporters at a news conference in the presence of his Thai counterpart.

Kasit Piromya said that "the meeting is very important for the good relationship between the two countries and peoples, and the diplomatic ties will proceed smoothly from now on."

According to them, both sides agreed to set up a date from Feb.2 to 4, in which the joint border commission will start to demarcate the territory, and Thailand's defense minister will then visit Cambodia on Feb. 6 to meet his counterpart to discuss withdrawing troops from disputed territory around the 11th-centuryPreah Vihear temple.

"We also agreed that the border committee have to first measure the locations near the temple in order to plant border markers as we decided in the previous meetings," said Hor.

The committee will also convene a meeting to check the sea-overlapping zones in March, he added.

Kasit Piromya arrived here on Sunday for his first ever visit to the kingdom since he was appointed as foreign minister in December 2008.

Tempers flared on the border after the Preah Vihear temple was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site last July, angering Thai nationalists who demanded that the then-government reclaim the territory, including the 11th-century ruins and its surrounding lands.

Rounds of talks were held since then, but resulted in no major achievements due to the political instability in Thailand.

Cambodia and Thailand have never fully demarcated their 805-km shared border. Only 73 border posts were planted in 1907and both countries planned to plant hundreds more in the coming years.
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