The full management report for the Preah Vihear Temple as required by the World Heritage Committee was already submitted on January 28 without delay, the Cambodian government said over the weekend.
The Cambodian cabinet issued a statement explaining the status of the world heritage site after Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti said last week that Thailand would raise an objection, as the inscription of the Hindu temple on the list of World Heritage Sites was still incomplete.
The World Heritage Committee has no role in receiving any report from a state party to the 1972 Convention after the listing of any world heritage site, the Cambodian statement said.
After the world heritage listing process was completed in July 2008, Cambodia has fulfilled its obligation to submit periodical reports on the conservation and situation of the temple, it said.
The World Heritage Committee in its meeting last year in Spain required Cambodia to submit the full management plan by February 1.
Suwit said the listing process was incomplete, as Cambodia was not able to submit the plan due to the Thai objection.
Thailand is worried that Cambodia would designate 4.6 square kilometres of land claimed by both countries as a buffer zone for the world heritage property. The two countries are at loggerheads over border areas that have not yet been demarcated. The Cabinet instructed Thai officials to raise the issue in the next meeting of the World Heritage Committee in the middle of this year.
The Cambodian statement said the Thai minister should be well aware that the World Heritage Committee and the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) have no role in the border issue, which is under the jurisdiction of the joint boundary committee of the two countries.
In the management plan, Cambodia said it is conscious of its "sovereignty" and the temple's outstanding universal value as well as its natural landscape and setting, the statement said.
With guidance from the World Heritage Committee, Unesco and international experts, Cambodia developed accessibility for the temple by improving the western approach road and preserving the eastern flight of steps, it said.
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