Next GMS summit to be held in Laos

The next summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation will be held in the Laos in 2008, according to a decision reached by leaders attending the second summit in Kunming on Tuesday.

The prime ministers of Cambodia, China, the Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam also agreed at their Tuesday closed-door meeting to further promote the subregional cooperation based on mutual respect and equal consultation, and to push forward the pragmatic program step by step, well-informed sources said.

The leaders also identified the following areas as focal points in the future cooperation:speeding up the electric power and Information Super-highway cooperation; implementing the agreement on transportation cooperation and the framework of trade and investment facilitation; improving human resources exploration and the development of public health, agriculture and tourism; and strengthening environmental protection and carrying out the action plan of biological diversity.

The summit meeting is the highest decision-making organ for the GMS cooperation mechanism. It is held once every three years, with the six GMS member nations playing host in turn according to the alphabetic order of their country names. The first GMS summit was held in Cambodia, 2002.

At the Tuesday summit, the leaders also spoke highly of the key role of the Asian Development Bank, a main sponsor of the GMS program, in subregional cooperation, and called upon the business circle to join in the GMS programs.

An annex of the agreement on GMS transportation facilitation, and several other documents were signed after the summit. The government leaders witnessed the signing ceremony.

The GMS was initiated by the ADB in 1992 with the purpose of promoting the development of the Mekong river valley and the cooperation between nations along the river.

Source: Xinhua