GMS summit opens in Kunming, vowing co-ops
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-05 13:50

KUNMING -- The Second Summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program opened here onTuesday morning, highlighting the strong will of the six Asian nations to strive for collective prosperity through pragmatic cooperation.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks at the opening of the Second Summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province July 5, 2005. [newsphoto]

"Today, we are meeting once again to take stock of the path we have covered and map out the future road of cooperation. It is highly meaningful for our stronger partnership and common prosperity," said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao while addressing a grand opening ceremony of the summit in this capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Since the GMS program was initiated in 1992, the six member states of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have jointly launched 119 projects in transportation, energy, telecommunications, trade and investment, tourism, environment, human resources and agriculture, which helped promote the economicand social development in the region, benefited tens of thousands of people, particularly the poor, and contributed to peace in thisregion and beyond.

Sitting next to each other along the Lancang-Mekong River, the six GMS partners, some of which are still quite underdeveloped and suffering from various social problems like drug, human trafficking and spread of epidemics, share similar cultures and have developed sound political ties and close people-to-people contacts.

These "have necessitated and enabled our mutually beneficial cooperation," Wen asserted at the ceremony, attended by the prime ministers of the other five GMS countries and nearly 300 officialsand delegates.

Titling his speech "a stronger GMS partnership for common prosperity," which is also the theme of the summit, Wen called on all GMS partners to carry forward the cooperation on a long-term basis.

During the summit, the prime ministers of the six countries areexpected to pass a leaders' declaration, or the Kunming Declaration, to review the ongoing GMS programs and outline cooperation plans in the future.

They will also sign a number of GMS cooperative documents on transportation, information superhighway construction, power trade operating and animal epidemics prevention.

Also on Tuesday, the Chinese government issued its second country report on GMS cooperation to explain its relevant stance, policies and concrete moves.

Close

Special police detachment established in Xi'an Panda cubs doing well in Wolong Suspect arrested in Taiwan

Today's Top News     Top China News
Taiwan's KMT Party to elect new leader Saturday         'No trouble brewing,' beer industry insists         Critics see security threat in Unocal bid         DPRK: Nuke-free peninsula our goal         Workplace death toll set to soar in China         No foreign controlling stakes in steel firms	No foreign controlling stakes in steel firms       China-made telescopes race to space       'No trouble brewing,' beer industry insists       HK investors cautious on mainland homes       Law in pipeline to ban money laundering       Overseas students test their Chinese abilities