The private sectors in Singapore are encouraged to invest in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Wednesday when the Mekong Development Forum was held in the city state.

"In this Forum, we hope to be able to share with you the remarkable transformation of the Greater Mekong Subregion, to apprise you of the many excellent opportunities for you to take part in its progress, and to find ways to work with you as development partners to further improve the subregion's economic prospects," said Jin Liqun, Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to representatives from more than 80 Singapore companies attending the forum.

The forum was co-organized by the ADB, the International Enterprise Singapore and the International Organizations Business Association.

Both Jin and Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, who delivered the opening remarks at the forum, stressed the important role of the private sectors in the development of the region.

"However, the private sectors in most of the GMS countries is still in its teens. The challenge is to have the strong private sectors elsewhere in our region to help accelerate the development of their fledgling counterparts in the Mekong," Jin noted.

According to Prasidh, investment requirements for building new infrastructure and raising people's living standards in the subregion are huge, which are estimated to be dozens of billions of U.S. dollars.

Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the six nations bound together by the Mekong River, launched a GMS Economic Cooperation Program in 1992 with the help of the ADB to re-establish historical trade and strengthen economic relations among them.

The GMS economies' average annual growth rate was higher than six percent in 1992-2004 while the intra-regional trade has jumped 11 times from 1992's 2.4 billion U.S. dollars to 2004's 27 billion U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua