China pledges active support to GMS countries in environment, biodiversity conservation

July 29, 2011
Xinhua

The government of China will still continue its active support to the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries in order to strengthen and expand the sub-regional environmental cooperation, Xu Qinghua, special representative of Chinese environment minister, said here Thursday.

"As a long-time supporter for GMS cooperation, China will continue to be an active player in promoting environmental cooperation in the area to promote sustainable development," he told the 3rd GMS Environment Ministers' meeting.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to cooperating with other GMS countries and we deem good domestic environmental performance as the basis for better sub-regional cooperation," he said.

Xu also said China plans to provide potable water and air monitoring equipment to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to help strengthen the local efforts for environmental protection.

GMS deal ratification 'crucial' for this year

28/07/2011
Chatrudee Theparat
Bangkok Post

Thailand is being pressed to ratify cross-border transport agreements before the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) meets in December in order to benefit from greater regional cooperation.

The six GMS members have reached 20 agreements to facilitate the movement of goods and people, but Thailand has ratified only 14 of them.

Two draft agreements were scheduled to go before parliament earlier this year, but the House was dissolved in May before they could be approved.

Under the agreements, goods arriving in transit to a third country will be inspected once at a checkpoint, then sealed and sent on without the need for further inspection at the final destination.

UN report cites Chinese dams as threat to Mekong

Monday, May 25, 2009
GoKunming.com

China's plans to build a series of eight dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong River have come under criticism by the United Nations, which released a report last week stating that the Chinese plan "may pose the single greatest threat to the river".

The Mekong River – known in China as the Lancang River – is a source of food and livelihood for the 65 million people living in the river basin in Yunnan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The river's water quality has deteriorated in recent years, but according to the UN report, it has not yet reached "alarming levels". However, China's dams would likely lead to "changes in river flow volume and timing, water quality deterioration and loss of biodiversity." The area's wealth of biodiversity recently received global attention with the discovery of 1,000 new species of animals and plants in the region.

Ma Zhouxu, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, told reporters last week that the Chinese government is equally focused on the Mekong's development and protection.

China is not the only country with big dam plans for the river – Laos is planning 23 dams on the Mekong and tributaries of the river to be finished before 2011. Vietnam and Cambodia also have plans to build new dams on the river.

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), which includes Yunnan and Guangxi plus the five countries through which the Mekong flows, is experiencing rapid development and economic and industrial expansion.

This dynamism will increase pressure on the river, but according to Mukand S Babel, one of the authors of the UN report, "The Mekong is in good condition at this time and can take more pressure such as irrigation development or industrial development."

The report did note that river basins along the Mekong including Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Nam Khan in Laos and Sekong-Sesan Srepok in Vietnam and Cambodia are in danger from increasing water demand and development and called for coordinated planning by the region's governments to deal with existing and future problems before they get out of hand.

China reinforces commitment to boost GMS economic co-op

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- China reaffirmed its commitment on Friday to continue to boost the economic cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), saying cooperation will benefit all nations in the region.

"China will further its cooperation with the other GMS members in fields such as transportation, energy, telecommunication, agriculture, environment, human resource development and tourism", said a country report issued by China prior to the third GMS summit.

China along with fellow member states Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar will attend the conference in Vientiane, Laos, on March 30 and 31.

"The other GMS countries are all friendly neighbors of China, and they and China have maintained a long tradition of friendship," said the report, which added China had always attached importance to enhancing and developing its friendly relations with other countries in the region.

GMS cooperation is project-oriented and provides financial and technological support according to the actual needs of member countries.

According to the report, a total of 9.87 billion U.S. dollars, a shared contribution by China and the other five countries as well as the Asian Development Bank, has been poured into 34 projects, and another 146 technological aid projects also cost a total of 166 million U.S. dollars.

Several model projects facilitated by China under the GMS economic cooperation framework were listed in the report, which included:

-- The Laos one-third section of the western line of the south-north economic corridor (Kunming-Laos-Bangkok Road)

-- Cooperation on the Pan-Asia Railway, and research into both the China and other sections.

-- The 110 kw power line connecting Hekou, Yunnan Province, and Lao Cai in Vietnam

-- The GMS Information Highway (GMS IS) phase I project

-- The first GMS Agriculture Ministers Meeting and the GMS Agriculture Information Network Service

-- The implementation of the Action Framework for the GMS Strategy of Facilitation of Trade and Investment, and its own country action plan

"China is planning to promote cooperation on agriculture, railways, and human resource training within the sub-region at the third GMS summit," said He Yafei, Chinese assistant foreign minister, at a news briefing on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's attendance at the summit.

According to He, the triennial meeting will have as its theme "Enhancing Competitiveness Through Greater Connectivity" and Premier Wen will deliver a keynote speech on China's views and proposals to further boost the GMS cooperation and its future development.

The GMS, established in 1992, promotes economic and social development, irrigation and cooperation within the six Mekong countries.

About 320 million people live within the GMS region, and their common link, the Mekong River, winds its way for 4,200 km. The great majority of these people live in rural areas where they lead subsistence or semi-subsistence agricultural lifestyles.

The area boasts abundant natural resources and huge development potential. With a long history of cultural and economic exchanges among the nations, the area has formed peculiar cultural and economic characteristics based on different folk customs and natural landscapes of the six nations sharing the river.

The first GMS Summit was held in Cambodia's Phnom Penh in 2002, and the second in southwest China's Kunming in 2005.

ADB pledges budget for development projects in three GMS countries

March 28, 2008

The Asian Development Bank has promised the budget for a variety of development projects in three Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries for 2008 and 2009, an ADB official said here Friday.

There is no lending project from ADB under the GMS program for Cambodia in 2008, but there are two projects tentatively planned for 2009, namely the Flood and Drought Risk Management and Mitigation project worth 20 million U.S. dollars, and the Cambodia Northwest Road Improvement Project also worth 20 million U.S. dollars, said Chamroen Ouch, senior program officer for governance unit of the ADB Cambodia Resident Mission.

There are three non-lending projects for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 2008, namely the Flood and Drought Risk Management and Mitigation worth two million U.S. dollars, the Project to Support Implementation of the Core Agriculture Program worth 2.5 million U.S. dollars, and the Mekong Water Supply and Sanitation Project worth 0.4 million U.S. dollars, he added.

Country leaders from Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand are slated to attend the third GMS Summit in Laos on March 30-31.

ADB defined an area of 811,000 square km along the Mekong Riveras GMS. The bank is also responsible to coordinate the development issues of the six countries related to the river through various GMS meetings.

Source: Xinhua

ADB, Sweden to help Mekong region in power trade

HANOI, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Sweden are helping to set up an institutional framework to support competitive regional power trade in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS).

The framework will ensure long-term stable and mutually beneficial electricity supply to six GMS members, including China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the Vietnam News newspaper reported Monday.

The project will ensure that environmental impacts resulting from developing power projects for regional power interconnection and trade will be kept under control.

The proposed technical assistance for facilitating regional power trade and creating an environmentally sustainable development of electricity infrastructure will include a five-million U.S. dollar grant from Sweden to be managed by the ADB.

The assistance will focus on developing institutions and building capacity to match the expansion of physical infrastructure for a competitive GMS regional power market.

Greater Mekong Subregion ministers to hold 2nd meeting against human trafficking

December 03, 2007

Ministers from the six nations in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) will hold a meeting in Beijing from Dec. 12 to 14 to coordinate their strategy on striking transnational human trafficking.

The meeting, the second of its kind, groups ministers from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The first meeting was held in October in Yangon, Myanmar.

The ministerial meeting will review the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on strengthening cooperation between GMS countries in cracking down on transnational human trafficking signed at the first meeting, and the plan of action (2005-2007) on combating transnational crime.

The meeting will also discuss and pass the second-phase action plan, scheduled for 2008 to 2010, and sign a joint declaration on the process of cracking down on human trafficking in the GMS.

The fifth senior officials' meeting will be also held on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting, sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

Source: Xinhua

Mekong agriculture ministers to discuss food security issues

10-04-2007
VNS

BEIJING — Agriculture ministers of six Greater Mekong sub-region countries met in Beijing yesterday for the first time to discuss a far-reaching programme in agricultural co-operation.

The six ministers of Cambodia, China’s Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam have since 1992 been working together under the GMS Economic Co-operation Programme initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The programme has helped create transport corridors among the six countries, enabling faster trade of goods, and increased economic growth.

Urooj Malik, director of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, said that agriculture must aim toward a more prosperous yet socially equitable sector, in which the full benefits of the "new agriculture" are shared by the poor.

Changes in the area have resulted in a range of new issues for the countries to address such as the possible effects on national and subregional food security on the rural poor because of the switch from food to bio-energy crops.

New animal and crop disease risks are becoming prominent, especially with the recent outbreaks of avian influenza in some countries of the subregion.

To deal with these issues, the countries must increase their capacities in science and technology as well as create new policies and regulations and food safety standards, the ADB said.

Over the past few years, an advisory body to the subregion’s agriculture ministers, the Working Group on Agriculture, has co-ordinated with a variety of stakeholders to create the Core Agriculture Support Programme.

These stakeholders include government and donor agencies as well as international and regional research and development organisations, non-government organisations and civil society.

The programme focuses on cross-border issues to encourage cross-border trade and investment in agriculture while contributing to food security and poverty reduction and ensuring the protection of the environment and sustainable use of natural resources.

Included also are the use of advanced agricultural science and technology in biosafety and biotechnology areas, policy and investment co-operation in biofuels and rural renewable energy, and the establishment of emergency response systems for agriculture-related crises.

The ministers’ meeting was preceded by a meeting on Sunday of senior agriculture officials from the six countries to finalise the framework for the cooperation programme agreement.