FM to soon disseminate ICJ's ruling in Thai

BANGKOK, November 15 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it will soon publicly disseminate an official Thai version of a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a territorial case related to the Preah Vihear Temple along the Thai-Cambodian border, translated from the original English copy in details. Thai Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nuttavudh Photisaro reported on Friday that his ministry has formed a committee to translate the ICJ's ruling on November 11 so that there will be the official translation, to which all parties can refer. Nuttavudh acknowledged that the first draft of the translation has been done and is being checked and the translation committee will hold its first meeting on November 18, one day before a meeting of another committee tasked with analyzing the ruling and further studying relevant actions, chaired by the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, while its secretary is Thai Ambassador to The Hague Virachai Plasai. Nuttavudh explained that his ministry needs to follow required procedures and not to conceal any information, insisting that his ministry is ready to disclose information as much as it can as long as the disclosure does not affect future negotiations with neighboring Cambodia and it is ready to also listen to opinions of all parties. Meanwhile, the top Thai envoy to The Hague, who is also the head of Thailand's defence team in the territorial dispute case, stressed at a discussion organized by Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn University that the World Court's ruling on November 11 did not state whether Thailand lost any part of its territory, but the ICJ indicated that the map of the 1:200,000 scale, which Thailand rejects, does not oblige both Thailand and Cambodia, and Thailand and Cambodia have, thus, to further discuss the issue based on watershed lines. (TNA)