Thai PM Yingluck To Push Dawei Project At GMS Summit In Naypyidaw

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Yingluck to push Dawei project at GMS summit in Naypyidaw

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

Six countries from the Mekong basin will kick off a summit in Burma's new capital Naypyidaw today to try to boost economic growth, narrow development gaps, strengthen regional links and integrate cooperation schemes.

Under the theme of "towards a new decade of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) strategic development partnership", leaders from China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will discuss and adopt a strategic program for the next 10 years (20122022).

Sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the GMS program was established in the mid1980s to build infrastructure for development and link economic activity in the Mekong basin. As of September this year, the GMS had implemented 55 investment projects for a total project cost of $14 billion. These included subregional roads, airports and railway improvements, plus hydropower projects for crossborder power supply and tourism.

During the summit, leaders are likely to praise successes from their cooperation for boosting tourism, agriculture and the environmental sector. They are due to witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for joint action to reduce HIV vulnerability related to population movement, plus an MOU on cooperation to accelerate the building of an "information superhighway" and its application in the GMS. There will also be an agreement for the GMS Freight Transporters Association (Freta).

Leaders will also hear a report from the private sector on the progress of the GMS Business Forum and outcome of the GMS Business and Investment Conference, which is due to be held in parallel. The private sector from six countries under the GMS Business Forum umbrella will have an input, and a chance to share their views on the cooperation scheme, problems and challenges.

Industry reps from Thailand will propose boosting transport links, to be economic links. They hope to transform the NorthSouth route from China to Thailand and EastWest from Burma to Vietnam into economic corridors to boost business and integrate Mekong region economies. Under this plan, countries would have logistical integration, with crossborder trade through transport and transshipment, special economic zones at border towns and crossborder tourism.

A GMS economic development master plan will be implemented together with the Asean connectivity plan, as part of an integrated Asean community by 2015.

Tanit Sorat, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, who is also chairman of the GMSBusiness Forum Thailand, said the Thai private sector wants to see a new model for border economies that links Thai border towns with neighbouring countries.

Paired bordertown economies, such as Chiang KhongHuay Xai, Nakhon PhanomKhammuan, MukdahanSavannakhet, KanchanaburiDawei and Mae SotMyawaddy should be made into special economic zones with unique characteristics for special purposes, he said. KanchanaburiDawei, for example, should be model border towns for the seafood industry, rubber plantations, logistics for international sea transshipment, Tanit said.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra would tell GMS leaders at the summit tomorrow that the GMS program would be a core cooperation scheme for the Mekong region and Thailand was ready to contribute to development projects with financial support and technical assistance. As a country sitting in the middle of Mekong basin, Thailand could link to all neighbours and become a regional hub for rail links.

Yingluck would emphasis the mega project at Dawei special economic zone under bilateral cooperation, a government official familiar with the GMS strategy said. After the meeting in Naypyidaw, Yingluck would ask her Cabinet to voice full support for the Dawei project, the official said.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, who accompanied Yingluck to the GMS meeting, said Dawei would be a core cooperation project between Thailand and Burma to enhance the two countries' economic development. Surapong plans to visit Dawei early next month together with ministers of finance, industry, energy and transport in a bid to speed up development of the project, which is overseen by Thai construction firm ItalianThai.

In the GMS summit, Prime Minister Yingluck will also address issues related to the EastWest Economic Corridor to enhance economic activities along road links across the Mekong basin from Burma to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. She will also mention environmentally friendly investment projects in the context of weather change, which drastically affected Thailand and other countries in the region this year.

With the Mekong region now getting attention from various parts of the world, notably East Asia, leaders will assign the ADB, as GMS secretariat, to coordinate with countries with joint development schemes, such as the MekongJapan and MekongSouth Korea arrangements, to avoid any overlap and efficient utilisation of resources.

The GMS has regional powerhouse China as a member. Other economic powers such as Japan and South Korea, which are not in the Mekong basin, used to have and wanted more roles in the region.

And development partners, notably from western countries, also wanted deals with the region. Leaders of the Mekong hope to facilitate business with all of them.

-- The Nation 2011-12-19