Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the third Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Summit to be held in Vientiane, Laos between March 30th and 31st, 2008. Leaders from six GMS member countries—China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar—as well as representatives from the Asian Development Bank, will meet at the summit to promote economic, social, cultural, tourism and environmental cooperation within the region.
GMS cooperation is project-oriented and provides financial and technological support according to the actual needs of member countries in the region. During the 16 years since its initiation, GMS cooperation has focused on five strategic areas: infrastructure construction, cross-border trade and investment, participation by private sectors, human resources and skills development, and environmental protection and sustainable utilization of natural resources.
Until the end of 2007, 10 billion dollars had been spent on 180 cooperation projects in nine key fields—transportation, energy, telecommunications, environment, agriculture, human resource development, tourism, trade facilitation, and investment—lending great momentum to the economic and social development of GMS countries.
China has maintained a long tradition of friendship with other Mekong countries; and always attached importance to enhancing and developing its friendly and neighborly relationships with them. In recent years, there have been more frequent upper-level visits; increasing personnel travel; closer trade and economic connections on a daily basis; more active social and cultural exchanges, and expanded, in-depth cooperation in various fields between China and the other GMS countries.
China is willing to cooperate with the other GMS countries so as to speed up infrastructure construction; liberate and facilitate trade and investment; and raise the living standards of people in the region. China also pledges to further consolidate and develop traditional relationships with other GMS countries; and jointly create a regional environment that fosters peace, stability, mutual trust and win-win cooperation.
As a land bridge connecting China with Southeast Asia and South Asia, GMS is highly significant geographically; and also has great economic potential and development prospects. The region boasts long historical traditions, beautiful landscapes, and colorful ethnic cultures; However, various factors have held back its economic and social development. In recent years, with the common goal of boosting their economic growth, these countries have been reforming their economic systems; restructuring industries; and opening wider to the outside world.
On this basis, and as advocated by Asian Development Bank, the six countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region initiated GMS economic cooperation in 1992, in a bid to enhance economic relations among these countries; promote economic and social development in the region; and achieve common prosperity.
Henceforth, the GMS ministerial meeting has been held once a year, in principle. The 1st GMS Summit was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2002; and the 2nd summit in Kunming, China, in 2005.
Since the second GMS Summit, bilateral trade between China and the other GMS members has maintained good development thanks to the improved trade structure. And the volume of bilateral investment has also experienced rapid growth. The third summit is expected to create a new platform for regional cooperation and advance local economic development.
By People's Daily Online
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