Thailand to appoint conciliators for UN-backed mediation with Cambodia, says Foreign Minister

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...