Published: June 5, 2026 • 5:16 PM IST · Updated: June 6, 2026 • 6:25 AM ISTBy TheBriefWire Editorial Team
Key points
“Thailand will appoint two conciliators and join a little-used United Nations (UN) arbitration process that Cambodia has invoked to help resolve a long-running maritime boundary dispute between the neighbours,” Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said on Friday (June 5, 2026).
Cambodia said on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) it had launched a compulsory conciliation process under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), following Bangkok’s decision last month to unilaterally terminate a 2001 bilateral agreement that provided a framework for talks over a disputed maritime belt.
For more than 25 years, Cambodia and Thailand have both laid claim to about 26,000 square km (10,039 square miles) of sea in the Gulf of Thailand, an area estimated to hold nearly 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and large quantities of oil, together valued at about $300 billion.
“Both side should have spoken bilaterally first,” Mr. Sihasak told...