The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam recently hosted a press conference to announce three important multilateral foreign affairs events, including the 7th Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Summit (ACMECS 7), the 8th Cambodia - Laos - Myanmar - Vietnam Summit (CLMV 8), and the World Economic Forum on Mekong region (WEF Mekong), scheduled to take place from October 24 to 26, 2016.
ACMECS is also known as an economic cooperation strategy (ECS) constituted by Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. ACMECS was founded in November 2003 at the Bagan Summit (Myanmar) and Vietnam officially joined ACMECS at the first ACMECS Ministerial Conference in Thailand in November 2004. Ayeyawady, Chao Phraya and Mekong are three major rivers in the Mekong river basin.
Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Dinh Quy said that this will be the largest multilateral diplomatic event held by Vietnam in 2016. The summit will see the attendance of leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as representatives from international organisations, WEF’s member businesses and major enterprises in countries sharing the Mekong River, and scholars. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will chair ACMECS 7 and CLMV 8. These conferences are themed “Greater Mekong Subregion Development: Investment in infrastructure, human resources and connectivity” and the World Economic Forum on the Mekong Region has three meetings: Funding infrastructure, new industrialisation model and trade barrier removal, he said.
At present, GMS is seen as richly potential in humans, traditional cultural value, biosphere, natural resources and tourism. The most important and biggest issue is the development gap between mainland and offshore Southeast Asia. The regional development quiz is to enhance connectivity, narrow development gap among countries in the bloc and in the region in order to ensure sustainable development and maintain long-term potential. This is why this area has a lot of cooperation mechanisms for a common goal and ACMECS and CLMV two among them. In fact, tourism cooperation is one of the bright spots in the region. In addition, infrastructure connectivity cooperation is expected to create an economic and tourism corridor and unite human resources. ACMECS 7, CLMV 8 and WEF Mekong aimed to promote the construction of GMS economic corridors, which include a North - South economic corridor, East - West economic corridor, and southern economic corridor.
Deputy Foreign Minister Quy said these diplomatic events connect businesses with authorities. WEF - Mekong is an opportunity to promote the image of Vietnam to international friends and encourage big corporations to invest in Vietnam. This is also a chance for neighbouring countries to meet and exchange cooperation to strengthen confidence. This is the first time the WEF - Mekong is held in Vietnam, which is expected to bring together representatives from 160 WEF member companies around the world, including Vietnamese firms. Attendants will discuss how to strengthen cooperation to unlock Mekong potential.
Anh Phuong - VCCI News
