Five Acmecs nations to support new trade lane linking Thailand, Burma, Malaysia

November 18, 2010
By SASITHORN ONGDEE
THE NATION

Five countries at the Fourth Acmecs Summit in Phnom Penh yesterday agreed to support the development of the South-South Economic Corridor that will link the proposed deep-sea port in the south of Burma to the south of Thailand and onwards to Malaysia as a new trade lane in the region.

“It was announced at the meeting as a dialogue that five members have supported the deep sea port in the south of Burma,” Tanit Sorat, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, and head of its Logistics Industry Club, told The Nation yesterday.

He is one of the Thai delegates at the Acmecs Summit. Acmecs or the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy is a cooperation framework covering Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam.

TAVOY DEEP-SEA PORT

Tanit said there was no mention of the name of the deep-sea port but it was acknowledged as the Tavoy deep-sea port project.

The South-South Economic Corridor would also complement the Bt200-billion railroad project with proposed financing by China from Nong Khai in the northeast of Thailand, through Bangkok and the south of Thailand to Padang Besar in Malaysia. It would be an extension of the railroad to be built in Laos to connect the south of China.

This would be a new gateway following the East-West Economic Corridor, linking Burma to Vietnam via Thailand and Laos, and the North-South Economic Corridor, connecting Kunming in the south of China to the south of Thailand.

Italian-Thai Development, Thailand's largest construction company, on November 2 signed the framework agreement with the Burmese Port Authority to develop the Tavoy Deep Sea Port, industrial estate and road link to Thailand. The total project value is US$8.6 billion, or about Bt260 billion.

The project will be located in Tavoy, about 160 kilometres west of Kanchanaburi or 300 kilometres west of Bangkok. The deep-sea port will be 10 times larger than Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri, which can handle up to 7.5 million 20-feet containers a year.

The contractor aims for the project to become a logistics and trading hub for the region that links Southeast Asia and the South China Sea via the Andaman Sea, to the India Ocean.

A financial industry source said Bangkok Bank is now interested in providing loans to the Tavoy project. Some firms in Taiwan, Japan and China are also keen on participating in the development.

However, many industry watchers are sceptical about the project’s massive scale.

ITD’s stock yesterday rose by 4.6 per cent or 22 satang to close at Bt5 on turnover of Bt1.32 billion.

Leaders of 5 countries in Mekong sub-region meet in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 16, 2010 (Kyodo News International) -- The leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam held a second day of talks in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, this time joined by Thailand's prime minister, to discuss cooperation in rice production and export among other areas.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in remarks at the start of the expanded meeting that cooperation among the five countries in rice production and trade would strengthen their position in the world market and help raise the living standard of their farmers.

''We have to promote the development of agricultural sector to a new height to strengthen and diversify the base of economic growth as well as to promote poverty reduction for our peoples,'' he said.

The five countries produce about 62.05 million tons of milled rice per annum, accounting for 13 percent of the world's total rice production, and export to the world approximately 16.61 million tons per year, or 45 percent of the world rice exports.

Hun Sen said the Mekong sub-region can be considered as a ''rice bowl'' of the world as Thailand and Vietnam are ranked first and second respectively in terms of rice exports while Myanmar also has high potential in this sector.

The five countries, which are all members of the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations, have been pursuing cooperation in recent years under the framework of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, or ACMECS.

Eight sectors for cooperation have been identified: agriculture, investment and trade facilitation, industry and energy, transport linkages, tourism, human resource development, public health, and environment.

The strategy is intended to capitalize on both economic disparities and complementarities of the five countries in order to narrow the development gaps in the Mekong sub-region, which would contribute to the building of the ASEAN Community by 2015.

ASEAN also includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

[Thai] PM leaves for Phnom Penh [for the ACMECS meeting]

17/11/2010
Bangkok Post

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Wednesday morning left for Cambodia to attend the 4th Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) summit in Phnom Penh, reports said.

Mr Abhisit refused to comment on Russia’s criticism, of the government’s extradition of arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States to face terrorism charges..

The prime minister is scheduled to have bilateral talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen and Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh in Phnom Penh.

He will return to Bangkok about 10pm.

Cambodia to host a series of regional summit meetings [-incl. 2 attended by SE Asia's dictators]

November 08, 2010
Xinhua

Cambodia will host a series of summit meetings next week for regional leaders, according to a statement released Monday by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The statement said Cambodia will host the 6th Cambodia-Laos- Vietnam (CLV) Summit, the 5th Cambodia-Laos, Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit and the 4th Ayeyawady-Chao Praya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit on November 16-17, 2010 in Phnom Penh.

The summits will be attended by Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of CLMV and ACMECS countries which include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand.

Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will also participate in the event.

According to the statement, the prime ministers and ASEAN Secretary General will be received in a Royal Audience by His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni in the Royal Palace.

All the summits will be chaired by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who is also the host of the event.

The summits will review the progress and set out the future direction for CLV, CLMV and ACMECS in all priority areas of cooperation, with a view to further advance these frameworks of cooperation for sustainable development and prosperity in this sub-region.

Asia's poorest countries debate financial crisis

Sen - Sein - Dung!
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (L), Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein (C) and Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung greet each other before a meeting during the third summit of the Ayayewady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) in Hanoi November 7, 2008. REUTERS/Kham

2008-11-07
Radio France International

Leaders from the five south-east Asian countries irrigated by the Mekong river met in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Friday. The Prime Ministers of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam held a summit of the Acmecs forum. The forum takes its name from the area's three main rivers, the Mekong, the Ayeyawady and the Chao Phraya.

Vietnam's Premier Nguyen Tan Dung, opening the meeting, called for the strengthening of transport, trade and investment links between the five states.

Pham Quang Minh of Hanoi's School for Social Sciences says the presence of two superpowers in the region, Japan and China, means that the south-east Asian countries must tread carefully.

"Because both of them [China and Japan] would like to have an influence on south-east Asian countries ... the problem for south-east asian countries is to balance between them", he said.

Apart from Thailand, the Mekong countries are among Asia's poorest, despite an Asian Development Bank programme that aims to improve infrastructure through transnational highways and bridges across the Mekong.

Thailand's Foreign Minister, Sompong Amornvivat, said on Thursday that the country would contribute to financing a third bridge across the Mekong to Laos.

Thai Premier Somchai Wongsawat said tourism was one of the areas in which joint initiatives had already been successful. One of the initiatives the five countries are working on is a "Five Nations, One Destination" plan.

South-East Asian countries seek economic integration

Nov 7, 2008
DPA

Hanoi - The global financial crisis might bring economic benefits for countries in South-East Asia, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday at a regional summit in Hanoi.

'The rich people in Europe, the buyers in America will not buy expensive clothes produced in Europe anymore but the cheaper goods produced in Cambodia and Vietnam,' Sen said.

Most of the other businessmen and political leaders at the summit focused on the need to integrate South-East Asian economies to create a larger market more resilient to economic shocks.

They met at the Arrawaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy summit, which brings together Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam in a rivers-related regional development forum initiated by former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2003.

The vice chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, Hoang Van Dung, said the five countries should focus on harmonizing regulations, eliminating duplicate customs inspections and creating a single regional travel card to promote tourism.

Oknha Kith Meng, president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, said the region should expect severe economic challenges as reduced demand in their wealthy export markets made itself felt.

'These problems that we face are not of our making,' Meng said. 'However, we have to expect that our economies will be buffeted by this global storm.'

Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein hailed the establishment of an East-West transit corridor to link his country's Indian Ocean coastline with Vietnam's ports on the South China Sea. Sein also said the regional development forum had played a role in encouraging Thai investment in Myanmar, which reached 4 billion dollars in the past fiscal year, which ended in March.

Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said the regional road network constructed under a framework called GMS was nearly complete but said better customs coordination and more industrial zones along the transit network were still needed.

Somchai called on forum members to enhance 'self-reliance' within the region, to create more intraregional trade and cushion the impact of the global financial crisis.

More than 350 business representatives from South-East Asia and the region's trading partners, including Japan, the United States, Russia and South Korea attended the conference.

Will VN-Thai vocational training teach about "Borderly encroachments" and "Neighborly agressions"?

Vietnam, Thailand to develop vocational training in the region

HANOI, Nov 7 (VNA) - Vietnam and Thailand have agreed to increase cooperation regarding vocational training development in member countries of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

A Memorandum of Understanding underscoring the cooperation was signed in Hanoi on Nov. 6 within the framework of the fourth CLMV Summit of Cambodia, Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam and the third ACMECS Summit.

Under the MoU, Vietnam and Thailand will adopt a range of measures aimed at improving the skills and teaching methods for those who are employed in vocational training in ACMECS countries, through short-term courses and field trips to both countries.

The two sides also plan to organise a host of talks and seminars relating to vocational training, as well as fellowship progammes targeting both trainees and trainers from ACMECS member nations.

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and the Thai Ministries of Education and Labour have been entrusted with the implementation of the cooperation programme.

PM mulls Somchai meeting

Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Written by Sam Rith and Cheang Sokha The Phnom Penh Post

Hun Sen may meet Thai PM for private talks in Vietnam

PRIME Minister Hun Sen is considering holding private talks with Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat during his upcoming visit to Vietnam, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary of State Koy Kuong said Tuesday.

He added that the meeting, which would come as the two countries grapple over a territorial dispute, would not be on Hun Sen's official itinerary.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen has not scheduled an official meeting with Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, but [he] may set his own schedule to meet in private with the Thai prime minister for discussions," Koy Kuong said.

Somchai told reporters late Monday that he might have a chance to see Hun Sen during the Ayeyarwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) meeting, to be held in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday and Friday.

The two prime ministers last met in China to discuss tensions along their shared border that erupted in violence last month when Cambodian and Thai troops opened fire on each other near the famed Preah Vihear temple.

A long-standing row over contested border land escalated in July after Preah Vihear was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site, angering Thai nationalists who consider the 11th-century monument as part of Thailand.

Since then, thousands of troops from both sides have massed on the border. Previous negotiations have done little to ease the standoff.

Hun Sen and a high-level Cambodian delegation flew to Vietnam on Tuesday for a five-day trip, which includes the ACMECS strategy session with Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand.

Hun Sen adviser Sri Thamarong said Cambodia is also expecting to sign five bilateral agreements with Vietnam, including accords on visa exemptions and trade.

Plans for a railway running between Singapore and Kunming, China, will also be discussed.

How many more bilateral cooperation agreements does Cambodia need with Vietnam?

Cambodia, Vietnam to ink agreements on bilateral cooperation

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Vietnam will sign five agreements soon in the fields of visa exemption, goods transportation across the border and information exchange of radio stations, said a press release here on Wednesday.

The signing ceremony will be held while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visits Vietnam in early November to participate in regional summits, said the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Hun Sen will lead an official delegation to attend the third summit of the Ayeyawady, Chao Phraya, Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) and the fourth regional summit among Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, it said.

The delegation will includes the premier's wife Bun Rany, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh and other senior government officials, it added.

Hun Sen and Bun Rany to pay visit to their Hanoi masters

Hun Sen to perform an official visit to Vietnam

28 Oct 2008
Cambodge Soir Hebdo Translated from French by Luc Sâr Click here to read the article in French

The Cambodian government leader would meet his Vietnamese counterpart during an official visit planned for 4-7 November.

On the invitation of Nguyen Tan Dung, the Vietnamese PM, Hun Sen will visit Vietnam during two summits organized by Hanoi. The first summit, on 4-5 November, is the third ACMECS (Ayeyawady Chaopraya Mekong Economic Cooperation Stategy) summit, the second summit is the fourth CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) summit which will be held on 6-7 November. The topics on Hun Sen’s agenda are the exemption of visa for common passports, goods exchange, railroad connection points, cooperation between the Voice of Vietnam radio and the National Radio of Kampuchea, and the information cooperation plan for 2008-2010.

Those who will accompany Hun Sen on his trip are: Bun Rany Hun Sen, Hor Namhong, the minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Cham Prasidh, the minister of Commerce.