The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) economic cooperation has achieved substantial progress while it faces challenges including the coordinating work in the whole region, said President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda here on Sunday.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Kuroda highly praised the fruitful gains GMS economic cooperation had achieved since it was initiated in 1992, especially in the fields of transport facilitation, connectivity, power, trade and water usage.
"The GMS economic cooperation has achieved substantial progress and made great contribution to the development of infrastructure construction in the region," he said.
The connectivity has been "greatly improved" through transport corridors, power interconnection systems, and telecommunication networks, Kuroda said. Economic competitiveness is being improved through better infrastructure links, which also can protect biodiversity and ecosystems.
As to water usage, the president, who visited a decentralized irrigation development and management project supported by ADB in Hatsayfong district of Vientiane on Sunday morning, stressed that the appropriate usage of water is very important for the sustainable development of the Mekong valley.
"All of the afore-mentioned progress contributes to the booming of tourism, manufacture and agriculture industries of the GMS member countries," he said.
ADB has been financing subregional projects in the GMS, in the form of loans and technical assistance grants since 1992.
However, the GMS economic cooperation also faces a lot of challenges, among which lack of "software" is the most urgent at present, Kuroda said.
"'Software' is not referred to the computer software, but a series of coordinating measures and regulations following the improvement of infrastructure, such as the cross-border inspection, human resources training, coherent policies, etc.," the 64-year-old president explained with a smile.
Kuroda said China has played a crucial role in the development of the cooperative mechanism and harmonize the relations among the six GMS countries which differentiate from each other on traditions, culture and ethnics. He hoped that China, with the strongest economy in the mechanism, will expand the range of cooperation with other countries for common prosperity in the region.
The leaders of the six countries sharing the Mekong River -- Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam -- are gathering here on Sunday for their third summit meeting scheduled for March 30-31 to discuss ways to deepen economic cooperation for their countries' shared prosperity.
The meeting aims to sustain and deepen economic cooperation and integration efforts among the GMS countries in order to better meet development challenges and realize the common vision of an integrated, harmonious and prosperous subregion.
The Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program (the GMS Program) was started in 1992 by the six Mekong countries. It involves planning and carrying out sub-regional projects in nine areas: transport, energy, telecommunications, tourism, environment, human resource development, agriculture, trade facilitation, and private investment.
With the support of the (ADB) and other development partners, the GMS Program is helping the six Mekong countries foster economic growth and reduce poverty through increased connectivity, improved competitiveness and a greater sense of community.
Source:Xinhua
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