Catalog

Ministers Vow to Speed Up Priority Projects

Mekong River countries vow to increase competitiveness, connectivity, and sense of community

By Tsukasa Maekawa (tmaekawa@adb.org)
Principal External Relations Specialist

DALI, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

To maximize the benefits of regional integration and globalization, ministers of the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries vowed in mid-September to strive harder to strengthen competitiveness and connectivity, and enhance their sense of community.

In a drive to attract private sector participation in the GMS Economic Cooperation Program (GMS Program), the ministers held their first meeting with representatives from the private sector at the 12th GMS Ministerial Conference.

“The ministers recognized that closer collaboration will be crucial to meet the challenges and reap the benefits of increasing regional integration and globalization,” said the Joint Ministerial Statement.

The meeting underscored the importance of speeding up priority GMS projects, including transborder road efforts.

The countries—Cambodia, People’s Republic of China (PRC—Yunnan Province), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam—are already reinforcing links through roads, telecommunications networks, and the promotion of power trade.

The GMS Program, assisted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since its inception in 1992, aims to create a better integrated, more prosperous, and equitable region. ADB and its partners have financed 15 major infrastructure projects, representing investments totaling over $2 billion.

All mainland Southeast Asian countries will be landlinked by 2007 when all subregional infrastructure initiatives in the Mekong countries are expected to be completed.

ADB Vice-President (Operations 1) Liqun Jin told the meeting: “The GMS should be prepared to eventually form a fully integrated market as it emerges in Asia and integrates itself into the global development process. So long as we work diligently to achieve connectivity and competitiveness, the region will be very wellplaced to play its part in an economic community under a broader framework.”

A major step toward further opening up the borders in the GMS was taken as Myanmar joined the other five countries in reducing nonphysical barriers to the free movement of people and goods across international borders. At the end of the meeting, Myanmar signed the Cross-Border Transport Agreement. Now all six countries have signed the Agreement.

The ministers noted that developing increased competitiveness requires the GMS to focus on an improved infrastructure network, human resource development, and trade facilitation alongside good governance and environmental management.

The ministers welcomed the commencement of the Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management. They saw it as crucial for building high-quality capacity in the GMS.

Other major outcomes of the meeting are as follows.

• The ministers agreed that the GMS Program is well on its way to achieving physical connectivity through a network of road corridors and agreed to explore other air and water transport linkages.
• They acknowledged the important role of cooperation in agriculture in reducing poverty through partnerships with rural communities to promote agriculture trade, food security, and sustainable livelihoods.
• They reaffirmed the importance of promoting the subregion as a single tourist destination and to work toward the possible establishment of a “GMS visa.”
• They warmly welcomed the Lao PDR’s offer to host the 13th GMS ministerial meeting in 2004 and to the PRC’s offer to host the second GMS Summit of Leaders of Governments in 2005.

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