A group of Cambodian defense officials and legal experts left here on Monday for Bangkok in order to attend the third meeting of Cambodia-Thailand Joint Working Group (JWG) from Dec. 17-19.

The delegation was led by Gen. Neang Phat, secretary of state of Cambodia's defense ministry. The forthcoming meeting will be chaired by Neang Phat and Gen. Worapong Sanganetra, chief of joint staff of the Royal Thai Army.

Speaking to reporters at the Phnom Penh International Airport before his departure, Neang Phat said the upcoming meeting will focus on the next step of troop redeployment from the Provisional Demilitarized Zone (PDZ) surrounding Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple.

In the meeting, he said, Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) and Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) will discuss measures and planning for a joint mine clearance in the PDZ ahead of the next step of troop withdrawal and observer redeployment.

"We believe that the forthcoming meeting will come to fruition because in previous meetings, both sides expressed high commitment to comply with the order of the International Court of Justice ( ICJ) in withdrawing troops from the PDZ," he said. "We wish to see Cambodia-Thailand border as the border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development."

Cambodia and Thailand withdrew military personnel from the PDZ in the first phase on July 18.

The first-phase-troop redeployment was made after a bilateral meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Siem Reap province on July 13.

The two neighbors have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, but Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple.

Fierce clashes between the two sides' troops had happened in February and April 2011 during Thailand's Democrat Party rule.

The ICJ ordered on July 18, 2011 that Cambodia and Thailand must immediately withdraw their military personnel from the PDZ of 17.3 square kilometers and refrain from any armed activity directed at that zone.

Also, it ordered both parties to allow ASEAN observers ( Indonesians) to access to the zone to monitor ceasefire.