PM encourages regional integration
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) need to accelerate regional integration, improve their role in regional and global production chains, and narrow the development gap between them and other ASEAN countries.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the remarks at the 6th CLMV Summit in Vientiane on March 12.
He affirmed the Vietnamese Government’s strong commitment to CLMV cooperation and said he hopes the four countries’ governments will continue to work closely to implement cooperation programmes in the future.
Each country needs to improve the investment-business environment, and strictly follow signed agreements and commitments on trade and investment within bilateral and multilateral frameworks, he said.
Priority should be given to human resource training and cooperation with international organisations and development partners, he added.
At the event, CLMV leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the traditional friendship and common benefits between the four countries.
They reviewed projects and action programmes implemented since the 5th CLMV Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2010, and discussed future cooperation orientations to narrow the development gap between the four countries and other ASEAN members to build an ASEAN Community by 2015.
Leaders hailed CLMV economic ministers’ efforts to fulfil most of the cooperation projects in the 2011-2012 CLMV Action Plan, and tourism ministers’ efforts to draw up a common tourism strategy for the 2013-2015 period.
They also acknowledged successes in trade-investment cooperation, including the implementation of the “One door – One stop” model at the Lao Bao (Vietnam) – Densavan (Laos) international border gate.
The leaders thanked the Vietnamese Government for providing its scholarships and support in vocational training and human resource development to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The four countries agreed to intensify cooperation in trade, investment and tourism, and timely implement the ASEAN Community’s establishment roadmap and the ASEAN master plan on connectivity to accelerate integration within the association.
They will develop transport links among the four countries and make full use of regional corridors, including the East-West Economic Corridor, the North-South Corridor and the South Corridor, as well as speed up the implementation of a multilateral agreement on aviation services.
The next CLMV Summit will be held in Myanmar in 2014.