Vietnamese PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, Lao PM Bouasone Bouphavanh, Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, and Myanmar PM Thein Sein had frank and constructive discussions about tapping development potentials and enhancing the role of GMS countries.

They acknowledged great efforts of these countries in fostering cooperation, linkages and economic development via numerous cooperative forums and mechanisms.

The Mekong basin is becoming a promising destination for many development partners, including Japan , the US and many European countries, they stated.

The GMS leaders also mentioned measures to quickly turn potentials into actual growth resources so that in the next decade, the Mekong basin will become a new sustainable development springboard for Southeast Asia in particular and East Asia in general.

Accordingly, the regional countries should raise effectiveness of cooperative mechanisms within the region and with the outside world, ensure sustainable development and resource protection.

The GMS countries should also make use of capital and assistance from partners, and create most favorable legal conditions for the implementation of infrastructure projects.

With an area of 2.6 million km2 and a population of some 325 million, the GMS, which consists Việt Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China’s Guangxi and Yunnan Provinces, is of geo-political importance in Southeast Asia, rich in natural resources, and convenient for agriculture and hydroelectricity development, and mining.

By Ngọc Vân