All preparations for the third Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit had been completed, and the Lao people are ready to warmly welcome leaders of Mekong countries and representatives from international organizations, Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh said here Friday.
"It is great honor for the Lao party, government and people to host the summit from March 30 to 31, which is expected to foster the region's cooperation, friendship and joint development," said Bouasone in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
The two-day event, with the theme of "Enhancing Competitiveness through Greater Connectivity," will review achievements and experiences of GMS cooperation over the past 15 years, define development orientations for the region in the next five years, and discuss and adopt the 2008-2012 Vientiane Action Plan, making GMS cooperation smoother and more competitive
The Lao prime minister said he firmly believed that with efforts of all concerned parties, the summit will achieve a great success, bringing GMS economic cooperation to a new height.
During the event, GMS leaders and representatives from international organizations including the Asian Development Bank will discuss connectivity and competitiveness issues, such as the establishment of transport corridors, power interconnection systems and telecommunications networks, improvement of infrastructure links, and measures to facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services.
Bouasone highly valued the comprehensive development of Sino-Lao relations with firm belief that the cooperation between the two countries has broad prospects.
"The Sino-Laotian cooperation will be more efficient and pragmatic under the GMS economic cooperation mechanism," said Bouasone.
China and Laos have traditional friendship and enjoy healthy and steady development under the principles of long-term stability, good neighborliness, mutual trust and comprehensive cooperation, he added.
While China and Laos maintained a good momentum of development on political relations, they also expanded the ranged of trade and economic cooperation. The cooperation of governments, regional bodies, non-governmental organizations and private sectors have been intensified and deepened, Bouasone said.
The prime minister told Xinhua the road between Kunming, the capital of the southwest China's Yunnan Province, and Thailand's capital of Bangkok going through Laos, will officially open to traffic on the occasion of the third GMS Summit. The road will create conditions for beefing up investment and transport cooperation between the two countries, and be likely a goods transport link between Northern GMS and Southern GMS. Therefore, the construction of the road plays an important role in fostering trade and economic cooperation in the subregion.
After the 1,807-km road opens to traffic, it will takes only 20hours to drive from China to Bangkok.
In 2007, the volume of bilateral trade between Laos and China was 249 million U.S. dollars, increasing by 218.4 percent from 2004. China's export to and import from Laos were respectively 164million U.S. dollars and 85 million U.S. dollars, rising by 162.4 percent and 653.8 percent from 2004.
The GMS, also Known as the Lancang-Mekong subregion, covers China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The first GMS summit was held in 2002 in Phnom Penh of Cambodia and the second summit was held in 2005 in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province.
Under a mechanism for cooperation among GMS countries established by the Asian Development Bank in 1992, the six countries focus their cooperation on five strategic areas of infrastructure, trade and investment facilitation, participation of the private-owned enterprises, human resources and environmental protection.
Originating from China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Lancang-Mekong River stretches 4,880 kilometers and has a valley area of 810,000 sq km. With a drop height of 5,167 meters, the river registers an annual average runoff volume of 475 billion cubic meters over the recent years.
Source: Xinhua
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