Roundup:
Myanmar strengthens cooperation with GMS member countries
Wednesday, March 19, 2008; Posted: 10:50 PM
YANGON, Mar 20, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Myanmar, a member of the
six- country Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)-Economic Cooperation, has
worked for closer economic ties together with other members of the
grouping by taking part in the implementation of the GMS program.
Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein is due to attend a two-day
Third GMS Summit scheduled for March 30-31 in Vientiane, Laos.
Together with other heads of government, Thein Sein is expected to
consult sharing of efforts in boosting economic cooperation among the
GMS member countries.
Initiated by the Asian Development Bank, the GMS-Economic Cooperation
was founded in 1992 to bring together China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand and Vietnam along the Mekong river.
Since then, Myanmar has joined in signing several GMS agreements,
under which the six participating countries have prioritized some 100
projects in eight sectors including investment, trade, trans****t,
tourism, telecommunications, energy, environment and human resources
development.
Covered by the Mekong project in the trans****t sector, Myanmar has
built some major roads in its border areas such as La****o-Muse road,
La****o-Hsipaw-Loilem-Kengtung road, and Tachilek-Kengtung- Mongla
road.
Aimed at developing the international passenger and cargo
trans****tation, trade and tourism on the Lancang-Mekong river, Myanmar
joined three other countries located in the upper reaches of the
Mekong river -- China, Laos and Thailand, in signing a commercial
navigation agreement in April 2000 in Myanmar's Tachilek.
Under the agreement, which provides for vessels of any signatory
country to sail freely between Simao in China and Luangprabang in
Laos. Myanmar opened two ****ts along with three other signatories for
the move. The Lancang-Mekong international waterway was officially
opened to commercial navigation in June 2001.
As part of its bid to boost arrivals of world tourists and those from
the third countries visiting the two border areas, Myanmar had the Wan
Pon ****t checkpoint in Tachilek upgraded in January 2007 along with
the Ban Muang Mom checkpoint from the Lao side to meet international
standard.
With regard to cross-border trans****tation, Myanmar also joined five
other GMS nations in signing an agreement and a protocol in April 2004
in Phnom Penh.
Moreover, Myanmar has been engaged in a plan to build a bridge
crossing the Mekong River to link Laos. The bridge, which will be the
first connecting the two countries, is projected near Kengkoke on the
Myanmar-Lao border linking with the R-3 road section connecting
Thailand's Chiangmai and China's Kunming.
Similar to the R-3 section, the R-4 section connecting Kunming and
Myanmar's La****o and Kengtung provides access for the GMS countries to
cross into Myanmar.
In addition to the trans****t sector, Myanmar has also cooperated with
GMS countries in building an information superhighway network (ISN)
for the socio-economic development of the subregion.
In April 2006, Chinese Minister of Information Industry Wang Xudong
came to Myanmar and a do***ent on cooperation in implementation of the
Myanmar section of the GMS ISN project and enhancement of cooperation
between the two countries in the sector of information industry was
produced.
The ISN project covered building of a commercialized information and
communication platform in order to launch basic business of chatting,
data, connection of internet as well as distant education, medical
treatment, e-government and e-commerce which will sharply raise the
capacity of the internet to promote the socio-economic development of
the subregion.
Accordingly, the building of a fiber link between Myanmar and China
was completed and put into service earlier this month as part of the
GMS ISN.
The Myanmar-China fiber link was built across China's Kunming and
Myanmar's Muse with its link further extended to reach the commercial
city of Yangon.
There is also an East-West Economic Corridor Highway covered by the
GMS economic cooperation program. The four GMS countries lying on the
corridor highway are Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
In view of this, Vietnam is seeking to develop transit trade with
Myanmar through the economic corridor highway.
The East-West economic corridor links the South China Sea to the Bay
of Bengal, that is from Vietnam's Danang ****t in the East to Myanmar's
Mawlamyine in the West.
Mawlamyine-Danang land route will take only 1,000 km whereas the sea
route which p***** through the Malacca Straits takes 4,000 km, experts
said.
A deep sea****t project at Mawlamyine in Myanmar's southern Mon state,
which will contribute to the development of the East-West corridor in
terms of regional cross-border trans****tation and trade, has been
underway.
On completion of the project, Myanmar is expected to become a key
sea****t in the GMS region and benefit from being lying in the
corridor.
The development of the East-West economic corridor constitutes part of
the GMS strategic program for the current decade starting 2002.
Meanwhile, the Asian highway sections also play an im****tant role in
connecting the East-West Economic Corridor Highway. Connecting
Thailand's Maesot, the Asian highway Myanmar section stretches as
Myawaddy-Thingan Nyinaung-Kawkareik-Mawlamyine with a total length of
about 1,400 kilometers.
Of the Myanmar section, the construction of 18-km Myawaddy- Thingan
Nyinaung section has been completed and that of the 40-km Thingan
Nyinaung-Kawkareik section is to be continued by Thailand, local
re****ts said earlier.
Once the remaining 1,360-km section from Kawkareik to Mawlamyine,
where the planned deep-sea ****t locates, is further built, it will
provide a link to Europe through Asia's China, India and Thailand.
Myanmar also cooperated with the GMS members on cracking down on human
trafficking. In May 2004, the GMS nations signed in Yangon the first
ever comprehensive memorandum of understanding (MoU) on joint
combating of human trafficking in the Asia-Pacific region at its
ministers meeting, which is part of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial
Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) process.
The MoU lays out methods and areas of cooperation to combat all
aspects of human trafficking, encompassing areas of policy and
cooperation at the national and international levels, legal
frameworks, law enforcement and criminal justice, protection, recovery
and reintegration of victims as well as preventive measures.
With regard to tourism sector, Myanmar is cooperating with GMS members
in 21 tourism projects to develop the sector in the subregion. The 21
projects, which are among the 29 outlined at a tourism investment
summit of the GMS held in Lao ancient city of Luang Phrabang in March
2006, include development of tourism infrastructure, human resources
development, private tourism service development and market research.
The forthcoming third GMS summit, according to the ADB, aims to
enhance development, economic cooperation among the GMS nations
through greater infrastructure connectivity, trade and trans****t
facilities, private investment, environmental management and other
measures.
Leaders will also discuss coordinated actions to render poverty and
promote sustainable development for all the countries and people of
the GMS by enhancing connectivity and competitiveness and promoting an
increased sense of community, the ADB said.
The second GMS summit took place in Kunming, capital of China's
southwest Yunnan province, in July 2005 when Myanmar joined in signing
four agreements of a framework agreement -- the GMS Cross- Border
Trans****t Agreement, MoU on Control and Prevention of Infectious
Diseases in GMS, Agreement on Regional Power and Trade, and MOU on
Cooperation, Rules and Regulations and Guidelines.
The 4,500-km Mekong river originates from China's Qinghai and runs
through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam down to South
China Sea near Ho Chi Minh city.
The GMS has a combined land area of nearly 2.3 million square-
kilometers and home to more than 250 million people.
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