CLV summit pushes for expanded cooperation

Prime Ministers Nguyen Tan Dung, Thongsinh Thammavong and Hun Sen co-chaired the eighth Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Summit in Vientiane, Laos, on November 25.

The summit screened the implementation of the revised master plan on socio-economic development of the CLV development triangle area to 2020 and the memorandum of understanding on preferential policies for the area.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s proposal on upgrading and expanding the CLV cooperation and assigning the joint coordinating committee to design a plan on economic connectivity for the three countries won the participants’ approval.

He asked for the concerted efforts to mobilise capital for projects devised in the master plan, speed up the construction of infrastructure facilities and fine-tune investment and trade policies since weaknesses in those spheres have hindered joint cooperation.

The three countries should focus on implementing the master plan’s targets, striving for an annual average GDP growth rate of 10 percent and an annual per capita income of 1,500 USD-1,600 USD by 2015, he stated.

The Vietnamese PM emphasised the need to continue simplifying investment procedures and improving tax policies in order to facilitate the collaboration between the three nations’ businesses, especially those involved in the fields of transport, mineral exploitation, rubber and coffee planting and processing, electricity, telecommunications and tourism.

To facilitate goods exchange and travel of locals, he called for the early completion of an agreement on promoting and facilitating trade activities in the area, the upgrading of border gate pairs, the collaboration in implementing the one-stop-shop model at border gates, and the signing of memoranda of understanding on the implementation of the Cross Border Transport Agreement within the framework of the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

He noted that prioritised investment projects listed by the joint coordinating committee should focus on developing inter-regional transport and trade infrastructure and improving the quality of human resources.

He also suggested the three countries work together to map out a rubber industry development plan since the rubber plantation and processing is their strength.

Attention needs to be paid to protecting the environment, bettering education and training and ensuring social welfare for locals, he said, adding that the three countries should also intensify information sharing and coordination to address issues relating to border security.

He also emphasised the need to attract further support from development partners like Japan and the Republic of Korea and international financial organisations like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

The three countries should coordinate closely to create a common voice and take full advantage of the development triangle area’s policies and economic scope.

The Vietnamese leader expressed his belief that with sound and appropriate steps the CLV cooperation mechanism contributes importantly to the prosperity of the three countries and the Mekong sub-region.

At the summit, the three PMs agreed to assign the three countries’ agriculture ministries to complete the rubber industry development plan.

They were also unanimous in strengthening cooperation in security and diplomacy, especially in fighting drug and human trafficking and trans-border crimes, responding to infectious diseases and natural disasters, and clearing war-left unexploded ordnance.

The PMs signed a joint statement on CLV development triangle area cooperation and agreed to organise the ninth summit in Cambodia in 2016.-VNA