Catalog

The Mekong By Road: The Greater Mekong Subregion Program

By Carolyn Dedolph (cdedolph@adb.org)
External Relations Officer

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) comprises Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Yunnan Province in the People’s Republic of China. In 1992, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the six countries entered into a program of subregional economic cooperation that aims to facilitate sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty.

ADB has provided loans amounting to $770 million and mobilized about $230 million in cofinancing for 10 priority GMS projects. More than $46 million in technical assistance grants for project preparation as well as studies on GMS cooperation have been provided by ADB, cofinan-ciers, and the GMS governments.

The program seeks to foster development opportunities, encourage trade and investment among GMS countries, resolve or mitigate cross-border problems, and meet common resource and policy needs. Projects and activities are either planned or being implemented in transport, energy, telecommunications, tourism, environment, human resource development, trade, and investment.

Combined, the lands of the GMS cover 2.3 million square kilometers. The subregion is home to about 250 million people, with the majority living in rural areas.

• The Mekong By Road

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