Anwar calls Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire Asean’s proudest moment, says Myanmar next challenge
The swift and effective ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia is an unprecedented achievement for Asean, demonstrating the strength, commitment and resolve of its leaders, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. — Bernama pic
CYBERJAYA, Aug 8 — The swift and effective ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia is an unprecedented achievement for Asean, demonstrating the strength, commitment and resolve of its leaders, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said the breakthrough was made possible through multi-layered cooperation involving the prime ministers and foreign ministers of both nations, their armed forces, and the trust built among Asean leaders.
“I must thank both leaders of Cambodia and Thailand, the Cabinet, and the Chief of Defence Forces here, who has played a pivotal role. The relationship and trust between our armed forces and Asean leaders are remarkable,” he said, representing Malaysia as Asean Chair.
Anwar said this in his address at the 58th Asean Day celebration here today, held in conjunction with the 58th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), themed Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Asean Future.
Anwar said that the high level of trust and confidence enabled all parties to secure an understanding quickly, noting that in the history of ceasefires worldwide over the past decades, if not centuries, this might be the first to work so fast and effectively.
Anwar said the United States and China had committed to supporting logistics in the ceasefire area but left it entirely to the bilateral understanding between Thailand and Cambodia, moderated by Malaysia.
“All Asean leaders have pledged to provide whatever support is necessary to secure lasting peace between the two countries,” he said.
He added that the achievement was possible because Malaysia, as Asean Chair, had received the mandate and backing of all Asean leaders, giving added weight to its mediation efforts.
Thailand and Cambodia agreed to implement a ceasefire effective midnight on July 28 at a special meeting in Malaysia chaired by Anwar. The meeting was held following heightened tensions between the two South-east Asian neighbours.
“If this is a good beginning, it augurs well for the future of Asean in terms of attaining geopolitical strategy,” Anwar said, adding that Myanmar would be the bloc’s next major challenge.
According to him, progress has been made towards securing a ceasefire in Myanmar, with the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia expected to visit the country soon to press for an end to violence, cessation of hostilities and the resumption of dialogue among stakeholders.
Turning to the economic agenda, Anwar said one of the key issues for deliberation at the October Asean Summit would be boosting intra-Asean trade, cross-border investments, regional energy grid connectivity and other collaborative economic initiatives.
Meanwhile, Anwar described the celebration of Asean’s 58th anniversary as a source of pride and shared appreciation, not only to commemorate the achievements since its founding, but also as a moment to give thanks for the progress made.
He said Asean’s success today is inseparable from the ideas, vision and struggles of the founding leaders of its member states. However, he cautioned that challenges to the region persist, and Asean will only remain relevant if it faces them with a strong commitment.
Asean was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration by its five founding members, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. — Bernama
Trump brokers breakthrough peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan
US President Donald Trump holds the hands of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as they shake hands between each other during a trilateral signing event, at the White House, in Washington August 8, 2025. — Reuters pic
WASHINGTON, Aug 9 — Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a US-brokered peace agreement yesterday during a meeting with US President Donald Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict and move them toward a full normalisation of their relations.
The deal between the South Caucasus rivals — assuming it holds — would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence.
“It’s a long time — 35 years — they fought and now they’re friends, and they’re going to be friends for a long time,” Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other’s territorial integrity.
The agreement includes exclusive US development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus that the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Details were not released.
He said restrictions had also been lifted on defence cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States, a development that could also worry Moscow.
Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India.
However, he has not managed to end Russia’s 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine or Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Trump yesterday said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to work on ending the war.
Ending sanctions evasion blind spot
US officials said the agreement was hammered out during repeated visits to the region and would provide a basis for working toward a full normalisation between the countries.
The peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighbouring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts.
Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and adviser to Loyola University’s Chicago School of Law, said the agreement would help the West crack down on Russian efforts to evade sanctions.
“The Caucasus has been a blind spot in sanctions policy,” he said. “A formal peace creates a platform for the West to engage Armenia and Azerbaijan … to shut down the evasion pipelines.”
Tina Dolbaia, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said yesterday’s signing was a big symbolic move, but many questions remained, including which US companies might control the new transit corridor and how involved Armenia and Azerbaijan would be in its construction.
She said Russia would likely be irritated by being excluded from the agreement and the US role in the corridor. “Now the fact that … Armenians are shaking hands with Azerbaijanis, and they are talking about US involvement in this corridor — this is huge for Russia,” she said.
Olesya Vartanyan, an independent regional expert, said the deal added greater predictability to the region, but its long-term prospects would depend on continued US engagement.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan … have a much longer track record of failed negotiations and violent escalations than of peaceful resolutions,” she said. “Without proper and continued US involvement, the issue will likely get deadlocked again, increasing the chances of renewed tensions.”
Senior administration officials said the agreement marked the end to the first of several frozen conflicts on Russia’s periphery since the end of the Cold War, sending a powerful signal to the entire region.
Armenia plans to award the US exclusive special development rights for an extended period on the transit corridor, US officials told Reuters this week. The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three US firms, one official said on condition of anonymity.
Daphne Panayotatos, with the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, said it had urged the Trump administration to use the meeting with Aliyev to demand the release of some 375 political prisoners held in the country.
Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that hosted the United Nations climate summit last November, has rejected Western criticism of its human rights record, describing it as unacceptable interference. — Reuters
Trump for Nobel Peace Prize? Cambodia nominates US president for ending Thai border clash
PHNOM PENH, Aug 8 — Cambodia’s prime minister said he nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, crediting the US president with “visionary and innovative diplomacy” that ended border clashes with Thailand.
Five days of hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand killed at least 43 people last month as a territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border combat.
A truce began last week after phone calls from Trump, as well as mediation from Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim – chair of the Asean regional bloc – and a delegation of Chinese negotiators.
A letter from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee said he wished to nominate Trump “in recognition of his historic contributions in advancing world peace”.
“President Trump’s extraordinary statesmanship – marked by his commitment to resolving conflicts and preventing catastrophic wars through visionary and innovative diplomacy – was most recently demonstrated by his decisive role in brokering an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand,” the letter said.
“This timely intervention, which averted a potentially devastating conflict, was vital in preventing great loss of lives and paved the pay towards the restoration of peace.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not publish the list of nominees for the prize.
However, a list of candidates is set by January 31 and the announcement is generally made the following October.
Tens of thousands of people can offer a nomination to the Nobel committee, including lawmakers, ministers, certain university professors, former laureates and members of the committee themselves.
Mentioning the prestigious award has become a sign of diplomatic goodwill for some foreign leaders towards Trump, who has touted his deal-making credentials as a broker of global peace.
Trump has already been nominated for the prize by Pakistan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Cambodia and Thailand were both facing eye-watering US tariffs on their exports when Trump intervened in the conflict, the deadliest to consume their border region in more than a decade.
They secured reduced levies of 19 percent last week, avoiding the high 36 percent rate he had threatened both with. — AFP
