Thailand will send observers to the Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh next week and has urged Cambodia not to raise their border dispute at the gathering, Thailand's foreign minister has said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said on Tuesday, 10 November, that the summit should concentrate on matters concerning the Francophonie community rather than bilateral tensions, which he argued fall outside its scope. Thailand has been an observer member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, known as the OIF, since 2008.

A summit with a peace theme

Cambodia is hosting the 20th Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh on 15 and 16 November, with ministers meeting on 14 November. From 15 November, Cambodia will take over the organisation's presidency for two years from France.

Leaders are expected to consider three documents: the Phnom Penh Declaration, a resolution on crises, exiting crises and strengthening peace, and an appeal on the protection of cultural heritage and the promotion of cultural diversity. Cambodia has announced the summit's theme as "Reinvest in Peace for Shared Prosperity and Sustainable Stability".

By 10 November, 79 of the 90 expected delegations had confirmed their participation, including 20 heads of state and government, according to an update from Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn. More than 1,000 delegates were expected, alongside thousands of participants in business and cultural events running alongside the summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to attend and will also make an official visit to Cambodia from 14 to 16 November, the first state visit by a French president to the country since Francois Mitterrand in 1993.

The border dispute in the background

The Thai request comes against the background of the two neighbours' border conflict, which flared into armed fighting in 2025 before a ceasefire was agreed in December that year. Cambodia says thousands of its citizens displaced by the fighting have still not been able to return home.

In February, Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote to President Macron asking for historical and technical documents on the border with Thailand, and France has offered both countries access to its border archives. Macron named the border conflict among the threats facing Southeast Asia in September.

Under the organisation's rules, members adopt declarations, resolutions and decisions by consensus, while observers cannot take part in their adoption or intervene in debates. Thailand's observer status therefore gives it a presence at the summit but no vote on its outcomes.

Other issues facing the summit

The summit is also drawing attention to human rights in Cambodia. Tom Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, urged visiting leaders on 9 November to press for the release of people he said were detained for exercising freedom of expression, assembly and association, saying more than 100 people were likely imprisoned on those grounds.

Cambodia's Human Rights Committee has defended the legal proceedings, saying they concern criminal offences rather than restrictions on press freedom or freedom of speech and assembly.

Whether any of the summit's three texts mentions the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute is not yet known, as none of them has been published. The draft resolution on crises and peace goes to ministers in Phnom Penh on 14 November before leaders meet on 15 and 16 November.

Sources: The Khmer Daily Network; Asia Daily.