Premiers pledge to boost Mekong links

VIENTIANE (AFP) - Mekong region premiers meeting in Laos on Monday pledged to strengthen road, rail and power links between their six countries, saying closer integration will boost trade and development.

The prime ministers of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos vowed to "deepen our economic cooperation and integration efforts," at their Vientiane summit with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

They also pledged, in an advance of a summit declaration, to jointly tackle "the emergence of health risks, human and drug trafficking, and growing environmental threats, including those posed by climate change."

The summit brought together China's premier Wen Jiabao, Thailand's Samak Sundaravej, Vietnam's Nguyen Tan Dung, Cambodia's Hun Sen, Myanmar's Thein Sein, Laos' Bouasone Bouphavanh, as well as ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda.

The leaders of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) -- an area long isolated and impoverished by revolution and war -- praised their "significant reduction in the incidence of poverty" since the group was founded in 1992.

The Mekong region was for decades a battleground for post-colonial struggles and the Vietnam war that in the 1960s and 1970s spilled into Laos as well as Cambodia, which then fell under the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge.

Peace has brought prosperity. Over recent years, average economic growth in the region has topped six per cent per year.

Exports from its members, excluding China, have grown from US$37 billion in 1992 to $179 billion in 2006, said the ADB. Foreign direct investment has more than tripled to seven billion dollars in 2005.

Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh said that by "transforming the country from a landlocked country to a hub for the GMS countries, the trade volume of the Lao PDR with the GMS countries has increased at an annual average rate of 20 per cent."

Several highways are finished or nearly complete across the area united by Southeast Asia's largest river -- including roads linking China and Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, and Thailand and Vietnam -- the premiers said.

The group committed to extending transport links, including a rail line from Kunming in China's southwest Yunnan province to Singapore.

The Laotian prime minister also asked his neighbours and the ADB for support for a railway link from Thailand through Laos to Vietnam.

The Chinese, Laotian and Thai premiers also officially opened the modern Route 3 in Laos on Monday -- previously a road closed during the rainy season -- completing an overland route from Beijing to Singapore.

The GMS also said its six members were "in the process of building new power generation and transmission facilities... and have laid down the foundations for a future subregional trade and power market."