Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Tuesday met with representatives from 19 embassies—including those of Australia, the U.S., U.K. and E.U.—and relevant government officials to discuss regulations of commercial surrogacy, according to Chou Bun Eng, Interior Ministry secretary of state and vice chair of the national committee to combat human trafficking.
Commercial surrogacy was banned in October, with three people arrested in the ensuing crackdown the following month.
Ms. Bun Eng said there had not been a single application by foreign parents since the government announced in April new guidelines for babies born to surrogate mothers to be legally taken out of the country.
The aim of Tuesday’s meeting was to address this, she said.
“The main goals are, first, to promote the government documents relating to policies about the permission to take the baby out [of the country] in the case of surrogacy, and, second, the procedures of submitting the request application,” she said.
The government “urged more cooperation” from the embassies, she added.
