CLMV economic ministers meet for increased ties

The economic ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) met for the first time in Vietnam’s coastal city of Danang on Saturday to seek ways to boost their countries’ economic and trade ties.

They also sought to work more closely in sub-regional, regional and global forums, maximize their countries’ potential, narrow the development gaps among the four and with other countries in the region and around the world, and push up the implementation of the agreements reached at previous CMLV summits.

The ministers acknowledged that the four countries have attained considerable developments in economic and trade ties in recent years and there are still high potentials for making these gains bigger by promoting the development of border markets and cross-border trade.

On trade, they agreed to focus on facilitating trade exchange, enhancing trade promotion activities, and boosting investment flows among the four countries in line with the joint declaration of the fourth CLMV Summit in Hanoi on November 6, 2008.

The ministers agreed to encourage investment into special economic zones (SEZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) lying along their borders with preferential treatments in infrastructure and administrative procedures targeting CLMV investors.

Debating human resource development, they underscored the important role of programs to provide vocational training and enhance the capacity of public administrative officials.

They shared the view that their countries need to boost their policy coordination at sub-regional, regional and international cooperation forums to attract resources from developed partners for narrowing the development gaps between the CLMV and other ASEAN member countries.

The ministers proposed reinforcing their cooperation in making and implementing projects within the framework of the second IAI Working Plan, cooperating closely in tailoring prioritized projects within the sub-regional cooperation frameworks, and stepping up cooperation with regional and international organizations and dialogue countries.

The ministers also discussed the conduct of research and assessments to figure out challenges and shared potentials as well as measures to boost trade and investment among their countries, and the further enhancement of cooperation in FTA negotiations and other negotiations for benefits of each country and the entire group as a whole.

They agreed to continue to study the establishment of a CLMV Development Fund as suggested by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, which aims at gaining financial assistance from other countries for shortening their development gaps.

The ministers decided that their meeting will convene twice a year along with the ASEAN Economic Ministerial Meeting and that their countries will rotate in playing the coordinating role.

They highly valued the ASEAN Secretariat’s assistance in preparing and organizing their first-ever meeting and expressed hopes to see the attendance of the ASEAN Secretary General or Deputy Secretary General in their future meetings.

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CLMV economic ministers meet for increased ties

The economic ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) met for the first time in Vietnam’s coastal city of Danang on Saturday to seek ways to boost their countries’ economic and trade ties.

They also sought to work more closely in sub-regional, regional and global forums, maximize their countries’ potential, narrow the development gaps among the four and with other countries in the region and around the world, and push up the implementation of the agreements reached at previous CMLV summits.

The ministers acknowledged that the four countries have attained considerable developments in economic and trade ties in recent years and there are still high potentials for making these gains bigger by promoting the development of border markets and cross-border trade.

On trade, they agreed to focus on facilitating trade exchange, enhancing trade promotion activities, and boosting investment flows among the four countries in line with the joint declaration of the fourth CLMV Summit in Hanoi on November 6, 2008.

The ministers agreed to encourage investment into special economic zones (SEZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) lying along their borders with preferential treatments in infrastructure and administrative procedures targeting CLMV investors.

Debating human resource development, they underscored the important role of programs to provide vocational training and enhance the capacity of public administrative officials.

They shared the view that their countries need to boost their policy coordination at sub-regional, regional and international cooperation forums to attract resources from developed partners for narrowing the development gaps between the CLMV and other ASEAN member countries.

The ministers proposed reinforcing their cooperation in making and implementing projects within the framework of the second IAI Working Plan, cooperating closely in tailoring prioritized projects within the sub-regional cooperation frameworks, and stepping up cooperation with regional and international organizations and dialogue countries.

The ministers also discussed the conduct of research and assessments to figure out challenges and shared potentials as well as measures to boost trade and investment among their countries, and the further enhancement of cooperation in FTA negotiations and other negotiations for benefits of each country and the entire group as a whole.

They agreed to continue to study the establishment of a CLMV Development Fund as suggested by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, which aims at gaining financial assistance from other countries for shortening their development gaps.

The ministers decided that their meeting will convene twice a year along with the ASEAN Economic Ministerial Meeting and that their countries will rotate in playing the coordinating role.

They highly valued the ASEAN Secretariat’s assistance in preparing and organizing their first-ever meeting and expressed hopes to see the attendance of the ASEAN Secretary General or Deputy Secretary General in their future meetings.

Related Articles

• CLMV economic ministers meet
• US-ASEAN economic ties 'priority' despite no-show
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CLMV economic ministers meet for increased ties

The economic ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) met
for the first time in Vietnam’s coastal city of Da Nang on Aug. 28 to
seek ways to boost their countries’ economic and trade ties.

They also sought to work more closely in sub-regional, regional and
global forums, maximize their countries’ potential, narrow the
development gaps among the four and with other countries in the region
and around the world, and push up the implementation of the agreements
reached at previous CMLV summits.

The ministers acknowledged that
the four countries have attained considerable developments in economic
and trade ties in recent years and there are still high potentials for
making these gains bigger by promoting the development of border markets
and cross-border trade.

On trade, they agreed to focus on
facilitating trade exchange, enhancing trade promotion activities, and
boosting investment flows among the four countries in line with the
joint declaration of the fourth CLMV Summit in Hanoi on November 6,
2008.

The ministers agreed to encourage investment into special
economic zones (SEZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) lying along
their borders with preferential treatments in infrastructure and
administrative procedures targeting CLMV investors.

Debating
human resource development, they underscored the important role of
programmes to provide vocational training and enhance the capacity of
public administrative officials.

They shared the view that their
countries need to boost their policy coordination at sub-regional,
regional and international cooperation forums to attract resources from
developed partners for narrowing the development gaps between the CLMV
and other ASEAN member countries.

The ministers proposed
reinforcing their cooperation in making and implementing projects within
the framework of the second IAI Working Plan, cooperating closely in
tailoring prioritised projects within the sub-regional cooperation
frameworks, and stepping up cooperation with regional and international
organisations and dialogue countries.

The ministers also
discussed the conduct of research and assessments to figure out
challenges and shared potentials as well as measures to boost trade and
investment among their countries, and the further enhancement of
cooperation in FTA negotiations and other negotiations for benefits of
each country and the entire group as a whole.

They agreed to
continue to study the establishment of a CLMV Development Fund as
suggested by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, which aims at gaining
financial assistance from other countries for shortening their
development gaps.

The ministers decided that their meeting will
convene twice a year along with the ASEAN Economic Ministerial Meeting
and that their countries will rotate in playing the coordinating role.

They
highly valued the ASEAN Secretariat’s assistance in preparing and
organising their first-ever meeting and expressed hopes to see the
attendance of the ASEAN Secretary General or Deputy Secretary General in
their future meetings./.

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ASEAN economic meetings begin in Da Nang

The 42nd ASEAN Economic Ministers’
Meeting (AEM-42), the 4th ASEAN Economic Council Meeting and other
related meetings began in the central city of Da Nang on August 25.

Attending the meetings are the General Secretary
of ASEAN Surin Pitsuwan, and economic ministers from ten ASEAN countries
plus their partners, including China, the Republic of Korea,
Japan, the EU, India, Russia , Australia and New Zealand.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung stated that 2010 is a transitional year in the process of
building the ASEAN Community with its three main pillars of
politics-security, economics and socio-culture, and the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC) has seen several important developments.

“The AEC’s commitment to integration and key economic cooperation
programmes has step by step become a reality. A common market and a
united economic bloc have been formed, based on the harmonising of
domestic trade regulations and an increased ability to regulate
macroeconomic policies amongst ASEAN member states,” he said.

The creation of the AEC has reflected ASEAN’s strongest and most
consistent commitment to regional economic integration so far, he added.

According to PM Dung, the growth of ASEAN over
the past few years has been helped by the successful linking up of
regional economies. An ASEAN free trade area (FTA) on goods, services
and investment has also been firmly shaped.

Several major cooperation programmes such as the ASEAN one-stop-shop
customs mechanism and the programme to facilitate trade, services and
investment have ushered in the prospect of a clear and united ASEAN
business environment.

In addition, an overall plan
to connect ASEAN countries together, that the association is currently
putting together, will support efforts to create deeper and wider ASEAN
economic links by enhancing the region’s transport infrastructure,
telecoms, information technology, institutions and exchanges between the
regions peoples. This will lay the foundations for expanding
connectivity throughout the whole East Asian region with ASEAN at the
centre.

PM Dung said that during its integration
into the global economy, ASEAN has created a number of close ties by
setting up FTAs with its partners and to date, the bloc has almost
completed establishing a network of FTA zones that includes 16 East
Asian nations, with the AEC at its core.

He went
on to add that the implementing of the Chieng Mai Initiative on
Multilateralisation (CMIM) Agreement and the establishment of the ASEAN
credit and investment insurance fund will contribute to the region’s
financial stability, economic recovery and ensure a steady growth.

The PM said that ASEAN has seen many important successes but in the
context of fluctuating regional and global economies, the bloc needs to
reach a consensus towards a common direction, which is based on
consistent principles that will benefit the whole community.

He suggested that the meetings focus on seeking out practical and
creative measures to enable the plans on Building the AEC to be carried
out by 2015.

PM Dung noted that ASEAN should
pursue balanced and sustainable development policies, while ensuring the
harmonious combination of economic growth objectives and a stable macro
economy, social development and effective responses to global
challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, epidemics and
economic instability.

The association should also
strengthen its existing economic cooperation framework with its partners
to promote economic linkages and create the foundation for a wider
regional structure with ASEAN playing a “central role”, he said.

The bloc is urged to pay attention to more specific and far reaching
measures to speed up the narrowing of the development gap between
regional countries and areas.

Vietnam ’s
government leader said he hoped that at these meetings, the economic
ministers from ASEAN and its partner countries will discuss more
effective ways forward and measures that will enable the bloc to reach
its regional integration objectives.

In the spirit
of openness and creativeness, and with each member nation’s vision and
political determination, the meetings will contribute to a successful
ASEAN in 2010 and in the future, he concluded.

Established in 1967, ASEAN currently groups Brunei , Cambodia ,
Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Singapore
, Thailand and Vietnam./.

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