Catalog

GMS Governments Ink Landmark Power Pact

By Ronald Antonio Q. Butiong ( rabutiong@adb.org )
Consultant, GMS Unit

Ministers of Cambodia, People’s Republic of China (PRC), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on Regional Power Trade in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) at the GMS Summit, held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 3 November 2002.

The IGA will promote regional power trade in the GMS, enabling the six members to coordinate and cooperate in the planning and efficient operation of their power systems. The IGA will also create a high-level body—the Regional Power Trade Coordination Committee—to actively coordinate the implementation of power trade within the GMS.

Under the IGA, subregional power trade based on interconnected networks will provide significant economic and environmental benefits for individual countries and the entire GMS. It will enable members to reduce national investments in power reserves necessary to meet peak demand. Other benefits include a more reliable supply of electricity, including power supply from an interconnected network in case of a power failure; lower operational costs; reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants; and consumers’ access to least-cost and most environment friendly sustainable sources of electricity in the GMS.

The IGA was signed by H.E. Suy Sem, Minister of Industry, Mines, and Energy, Cambodia; H.E. Yu Guangzhou, Vice Minister of State Development Planning Commission, PRC; H.E. Somphong Mongkhon- vilay, Minister to the Prime Minister’s

Office, Lao PDR; H.E. David Abel, Minister of the Office of the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Myanmar; H.E. Phongthep Thepkanjana, Minister of Energy, Thailand; and H.E. Vo Hong Phuc, Minister of Planning and Investment, Viet Nam.

The GMS leaders and ADB President Tadao Chino witnessed the signing.

POWER PACT: The agreement will provide significant economic and environmental benefits for individual countries and the entire GMS.

PRC Joins Mekong Cross-Border Accord

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) became a party to the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Cross-Border Land Transport Facilitation Agreement (Cross-Border Agreement) at the GMS Summit by signing the instrument of its accession and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among Cambodia, PRC, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Thailand, and Viet Nam. The GMS leaders and ADB President Tadao Chino witnessed the signing.

The MOU clarifies the relationship of the Cross-Border Agreement and its implementing annexes and protocols, as well as commits the signatory countries to amend Article 17 on Driving Permits. This will allow driving permits issued by all signatory countries to be recognized, including those of nonmembers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, such as the PRC.

The MOU was signed by H.E. Khy Tainglim, Minister of Public Works and Transport, Cambodia; H.E. Zhang Chunxian, Minister of Communications, PRC; H.E. Somphong Mongkhonvilay, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, Lao PDR; H.E. Prommin Lertsuridej, Deputy Prime Minister, Thailand; and H.E. Vo Hong Phuc, Minister of Planning and Investment, Viet Nam.

The Cross-Border Agreement was originally signed by Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam on 26 November 1999 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. At the 10th GMS Ministerial Conference in Yangon, Myanmar, on 29 November 2001, Cambodia acceded to the Agreement. Myanmar has expressed its intention to become a party to the Cross-Border Agreement, although it has yet to indicate the date of its intended accession.

The GMS countries at the Ninth Ministerial Conference in Manila in January 2000 agreed to implement the GMS Cross-Border Agreement and its annexes and protocols by 2005. The implementation of the Agreement is expected to address nonphysical constraints to increased cross-border access. These include customs procedures, rights of cross-border passage for vehicles and drivers, vehicle and load specifications, insurance provisions, and transit and user fees.

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