Phnom Penh: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation says an Indian rice exporter has agreed to stop using Angkor Wat on his packaging. Voyage India’s “Angkor Wat” brand rice was first spotted online in February this year. The Ministry then raised the issue with the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in India. The Ministry says the company has violated Cambodia’s Laws on Trademarks, Trade Names and Acts of Unfair Competition, as well as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. It says there has been no authorisation from the Cambodian government allowing Voyage India to use the name of Angkor Wat.

Voyage India is based in Mumbai. Its Jasmine Rice is one of its biggest products which is first imported from Thailand and then exported to Africa. On the company’s website, the “Angkor Wat rice” is front and centre, but it is understood that the image will now be removed.

Just a week ago, Cambodians made an online protest through social media against Thailand for allegedly copying the design of Angkor Wat at a temple currently under construction in Buriram province. After an investigation, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts revealed that Sihanakorn Temple is not going to be a replica of Angkor Wat but that close monitoring of the project will continue.