A trade official said China will continue to promote economic and trade cooperation between China and other member nations of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) economic cooperation mechanism.

An Ming, deputy minister of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC),said the Chinese government will strive for improved environment for trade and investment through favorable policies,funding support and better infrastructure and trade facilitation measures.

The ongoing Forum on Business Participation in the Cooperation of GMS was told Monday that the direct foreign investment in GMS region totaled 5.6 billion US dollars by 2002, and the investment has been growing.

The GMS economic cooperation mechanism involving China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,Thailand and Vietnam,which share the Lancang-Mekong River,was initiated by the Asian Development Bank in 1992 to foster economic and social developemnt in the region.

A total of 119 projects have been launched in the past 13 years by the six countries in the fields of communications, energy, telecommunications, human resources development, environment, trade, tourism and agriculture.The projects mobilized an overall volume of 5.3 billion US dollars in funding.

The three-day forum began on Sunday in Kunming, the capital city of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Source: Xinhua