Backgrounder: Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation

Backgrounder: Greater Mekong Subregion economic cooperation

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will pay a working visit to Laos on March 29-31 and attend the third Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit in Vientiane.

Since 1992, GMS countries, which include Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, have embarked on a program of economic cooperation which aims to promote development through closer economic links.

The GMS Program, with support from the Asian Development Bank and other donors, helps the implementation of high priority sub- regional projects in transport, energy, telecommunications, environment, human resource development, tourism, trade, private sector investment and agriculture.

Substantial progress has been achieved in terms of implementing GMS projects over the past 16 years. Priority infrastructure projects have either been completed or are being implemented.

Among these are the upgrading of the Phnom Penh (Cambodia)-Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) highway and the East-West Economic Corridor that will eventually extend from the Andaman Sea to Vietnam’s beach resort of Da Nang. A significant amount of resources has also been mobilized for the GMS Program.

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