By:
• Torn Chanritheara

• September 1, 2024 , 4:15 PM

PHNOM PENH – The Ministry of Information has opened registration for tours along the northeastern border that are set to start on Sept. 7.

The tours to Kratie, Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Stung Treng and Tboung Khmum provinces will be an opportunity for people to see what is happening along the border in terms of infrastructure development in the northeastern part of the country, the ministry said in a press release posted on Facebook on Aug. 31.

These free tours were announced by Prime Minister Hun Manet on Aug. 22. As he explained in his address, they will take place every weekend through the end of 2024, the goal being to ease people’s concerns regarding the Cambodia-Lao-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) project. The tours will enable people to see by themselves the development taking place in those provinces as part of the 3-country project, he said.  

The Ministry of Information, which Hun Manet assigned to take charge of the tours, said in the release that the tours will be free. All expenses—transportation, accommodation, food and water—will be handled by the prime minister and by contributions from donors, the ministry stated. The funding will not come from the Border Infrastructure Construction Fund, which was established by the prime minister on Aug. 22 to enable the public to donate money to help develop the infrastructure along the country’s border, the ministry stressed.   

Those who wish to be part of the tours must register in advance with the ministry through a QR code, the ministry said, adding that participants will be selected on a first-come-first-serve basis.

On the second tour, people will visit the border area in Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces, and the third tour Stung Treng and Ratanakiri Provinces, the ministry’s release read.

The tour project came in response to recent rumors regarding the CLV-DTA initiative along the northeastern border with some Cambodians saying that the project would amount to incorporating the four provinces into Vietnam. The government has strongly denied these rumors.