GMS Countries to Seek for Greater Regional Connectivity and Trade Link

PHNOM PENH – Leaders of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries met in Hanoi on March 31 with the release of joint summit declaration.

China and Mekong River countries – Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar – adopted and gave full support to the Hanoi Action Plan (HAP) 2018-2022 and the Regional Investment Framework (RIF) 2022, according to international report.

The leaders promised to provide full support to 3Cs – Connectivity, Competitiveness and Community – of GMS, agreed at the sixth GMS summit to seek for greater economic integration, regional connectivity, trade links and financial cooperation, people-to-people connection, and closer relations with the rest of the world.

Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc with heads of delegations of GMS countries Photo VNA

Nearly 230 regional development projects with a cost of 66 billion U.S. dollars were agreed to undertake over the next five years, with funding coming from both the project’s home country as well as bilateral and development partners, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In total, the framework lists USD 83 billion in development ventures to be tackled between 2012 and 2030, the majority of the funds – about USD 54 billion – will be dedicated to improving transportation infrastructure within GMS member countries, according to local report.

In Cambodia, 11 transportation projects worth a combined USD 2.3 billion were scheduled to launch, USD 1.6 billion of that total comes from a single project, the Chinese-funded expressway from Phnom Penh to Sihanouk Ville.

According to local reports, only two listed projects are Cambodia-specific besides transportation sector. The first proposes USD 60 million for the construction of a Phnom Penh New Port Special Economic Zone, though neither a funder nor a timeline were detailed in the framework.

The second outlines USD 1.4 million in ADB funding promised to Cambodia’s Asean Economic Community Support Program, which facilitates the implementation of national reform programs.

Great Mekong Sub-region