Reception Ceremony of 106km Donated Rail by the Government of Malaysia to the Royal Government of Cambodia
On 9 January 2007, a ceremony was held at the border town of Poipet, Banteay Meanchey Province, Cambodia, 402km north-west of Phnom Penh to hand over 106km used rail tracks donated by Malaysia to Cambodia.
The handover ceremony was presided over by H.E. Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Incharge of the Council of Ministers, Cambodia. It was also attended by H.E. Sun Chantol, Minister of Public Works and Transport, Cambodia and senior government officials from the Council Of Ministers, Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Royal Railways of Cambodia.
The Malaysian side was represented by YB Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas, Deputy Minister of Transport, H.E. Dato? Adnan Haji Othman, Ambassador of Malaysia to Cambodia, Dato? Mohd Salleh Abdullah, Managing Director of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad and four other officials.
H.E. Niyom Diovilai, Vice Governor of Railway of Thailand and 11 officials from the Railway of Thailand were also invited and present. There were also 400 Poipet citizens present to witness the auspicious ceremony.
The handover ceremony commenced at 10.30 a.m. with the playing of the national anthems of Malaysia and Cambodia respectively, followed by speeches by H.E. Sun Chantol, YB Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas and H.E. Sok An. YB Datuk Douglas subsequently presented to H.E. Sok An a small piece of the rail track to symbolically mark the official handover of the 106km rail tracks.
In his speech, H.E. Sok An expressed appreciation to Malaysia for its contribution of the used rail tracks. H.E. Sok An believed that the restoration of the Poipet-Sisophon missing link using the used rail tracks would not only help restore the physical infrastructure of Cambodia's railway in order to connect Cambodia with the rest of Asia but would also help develop the economy of Cambodia and its people.