The Ha Tien International Border Gate. (Source: Internet) Kien Giang (VNA) – Officials and experts from Vietnam and Cambodia met at a workshop in Kien Giang province to find an optimal community-based management model for the border areas between the two countries.
Dr. Nguyen Binh Giang, Deputy Head of the Institute of World Economy and Politics under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities, said the community-based management model has been widely applied around the world, including in Vietnam and Cambodia, in the past several decades.
The model has been used to manage natural resources like land, water resources, sea and forest, along with ecological environment protection, and tourism development.
Local residents also help make plans for social-economic development, managing disaster risk management and disease prevention.
The model has proved more effective than State and private management model in many aspects, researchers said, adding that a combination of the three models is also efficient.
According to Giang, the model will become even more effective if it is designed for a proper population size and takes into account characteristics of the local community like education level, cultural identities, religion and customs.
Vietnam and Cambodia share 1,137 kilometres of border running through 10 provinces in each country, as well as 110 communes in 33 districts.
The line has 10 international border gates, nine main border gates and 30 minor ones.
Kien Giang borders Cambodia for 56.8 kilometres, mostly along Kampot province, with the Ha Tien international border gate, the Giang Thanh national border gate, and six auxiliary border gates.
The province has signed many cooperation agreements on economy, social-culture, defence and external relations with Cambodian localities, including Kampot, Kep, Preah Shihanok, Kokong and Phnom Penh.-VNA
