ACMECS leaders and ASEAN Secretary General at the opening session of ACMECS 5 in Laos

(VOVworld) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday attended the 5^th Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy summit (ACMECS 5) in Vientiane, Laos. In his address, Prime Minister Dung said that apart from positive achievements, some cooperative programs within ACMECS have not been implemented effectively. “To ensure ACMECS brings into play its potential and important role in regional integration and in aiding each country’s development, it’s important to focus on enhancing the competitiveness of each member country based on market connectivity, establishing a regional supply and production chain and improving the quality of human resources. In addition, we need to assist the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Lastly, it’s necessary to ensure sustainable growth for the region”, said PM Dung.

Prime Minister Dung suggested that ACMECS cooperative programs should focus on trade, investment and tourism, and strengthening regional connectivity with the focus being on developing economic corridors and trans-national transport links, and boosting cooperation in the areas of sustainable management and utilization of natural resources.

Leaders attending the summit adopted the Vientiane Declaration and the ACMECS Action Program in the 2013-2015 period with the intention of connecting the ACMECS cooperation with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 and implementing a Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, improving the competitiveness, role and positions of ACMECS member countries in the global production and supply chain.

The same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra. The two Prime Ministers agreed to ask their Foreign Ministries to develop a road map for the establishment of the Vietnam-Thailand Strategic Partnership and boost the meeting mechanism of their Joint Committees this year. They agreed on the need to ensure the environment and security of water resources in the Mekong River and support ASEAN’s six-point principles in the East Sea. At a meeting with Myanmar Vice President Sai Mauk Kham the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that Vietnam treasured its traditional friendship and close cooperation with Myanmar. He pledged to support Myanmar’s ASEAN Presidency in 2014 and expressed his hope that Myanmar would soon become a member of the Mekong River Commission. The two leaders agreed to increased exchanges of high-level delegations and contacts, expand cooperation between localities and implement signed treaties of cooperation in order to increase the value of trade between the two countries by up to 500 million USD by 2015.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited provinces in northern Lao.