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, transport, tourism, telecommunications, energy, environment and human resources development.

Covered by the Mekong project in the transport sector, Myanmar has built some major roads in its border areas such as Lashio-Muse road, Lashio-Hsipaw-Loilem-Kengtung road, and Tachilek-Kengtung- Mongla road.

Aimed at developing the international passenger and cargo transportation, 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 ports 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 port 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 transportation, 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 Lashio and Kengtung provides access for the GMS countries to cross into Myanmar.

In addition to the transport 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 document 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 Port 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 passes through the Malacca Straits takes 4,000 km, experts said.

A deep seaport 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 transportation and trade, has been underway.

On completion of the project, Myanmar is expected to become a key seaport 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 important 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 reports said earlier.

Once the remaining 1,360-km section from Kawkareik to Mawlamyine, where the planned deep-sea port 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 transport 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 Transport 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.