Page 29 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL9

TWO KINGDOMS INTERTWINEDAs Ambassador Eat Sophea explains, relations between Cambodia and Thailand are the best they have been in years, with potential for greater investment and even closer cooperationI never expected to be posted to Thailand, because in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok is considered to be a big and very important post.I felt honoured to be considered capable enough to handle the work hereWhen Her Excellency Eat Sophea, current Cambodian ambassador to Thailand, was informed she would be assigned to Bangkok, the news caught her by surprise.“I never expected to be posted to Thailand, because in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok is considered to be a big and very important post,” she told Elite+ in an exclusive interview at the Cambodian Embassy. “I felt honoured to be considered capable enough to handle the work here.”The two countries have a unique diplomatic relationship that has been marked by conflicts over territorial and other issues. Diplomats posted to Bangkok and Phnom Penh must be able to handle unexpected events and heavy pressure with charm and a positive attitude towards mending ties.Ambassador Sophea has the requisite qualities. In her first 17 months she gained a reputation in the diplomatic community for being efficient and sincere, with an optimistic and helpful attitude that has done much to strengthen ties, even though Bangkok is her first post as an ambassador. Previously she was an undersecretary of state in the Foreign Ministry, covering Africa and the Middle East. She was chief of the cabinet of the Foreign Minister from 2004 to 2012, and was also second secretary at the Cambodian Embassy in New Delhi, India. The latter was familiar territory, as she studied English at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in India before receiving a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.Ambassador Sophea arrived in Bangkok on April 9 last year, when the city was virtually shut down by protesters. A month later, former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed by the coup. The ambassador’s first big test came after two months, when there were rumours of a crackdown on illegal labour by the new military government. Around 100,000 migrant workers, mostly Cambodians, returned home in haste, causing labour shortages, especially in the Thai construction and fishing industries. HE Sophea and ambassadors from Myanmar and Laos worked with Sihasak Phuangketkeow, then permanent secretary of the Foreign Ministry, to ease the labour exodus.Elite+ 27