Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has proposed Ayeyawadi-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) member countries focus on agriculture as an affiliation priority.

Addressing the 6 th ACMECS Summit in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on June 23, the PM noted that the high-potential agriculture sector employs a large number of labours in ACMECS countries.

The group should support member countries to enhance labour productivity through attracting investment, expanding production scale and applying modern technology, he said.

It is also necessary to boost the processing sector to increase the proportion of technology and added value for agricultural products while forming agricultural value chains in sub-regions to integrate into the regional and global value chains, said the Government leader.

Highlighting Thailand’s experience in developing its processing sector and applying international standards to agricultural products, he said he hopes Thailand and other ACMECS member countries will share experience and increase collaboration in building regional trademarks for farm produce, realising capacity upgrade programmes with partners and luring foreign investment.

Particularly, rice cooperation among ACMECS members should focus on production and transferring pre-harvest and post-harvest technologies, he stressed.

The Vietnamese PM also suggested ACMECS countries create favourable conditions for border transport and trade, especially along sub-regional economic corridors.

It is crucial to implement signed bilateral and multilateral agreements in the field, coordinate in designing new policies to promote trade and investment and form a new transport system to connect the five member countries.

He suggested the five countries should promptly apply the “one-stop-shop” model in border gates along the East-West and the South Economic Corridors.

Another priority is promoting sustainable development cooperation in the Ayeyawadi-Chao Phraya-Mekong river basins together with managing and using natural resources, coping with climate change and disasters and assessing cross-border environmental impacts, said the PM.

He proposed that along with internal resources, ACMECS countries should work together to call for support from partners in conducting joint projects.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung also underscored the need to encourage and back business circles to join ACMECS cooperation projects while strengthening dialogues between the ACMECS business council and governments to ensure smooth information flow and high efficiency of ACMECS cooperation.

Vietnam is ready to work with other ACMECS countries and partners to effectively implement cooperation programmes for prosperity in each country and for peace, stability and progress of the whole region, he stated.

At the summit, leaders of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand affirmed their determination to reinforce traditional friendship among the five countries and bolster ACMECS affiliation.

They defined eight prioritised cooperation areas: trade-investment, agriculture, industry-energy, transport, human resources development, tourism, healthcare and environmental protection.

During the event, participants passed a Joint Statement and a Plan of Action for 2016-18. They agreed to hold the 7 th ACMECS Summit in Vietnam in conjunction with the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Summit.

The plan of action aims to enhance the competitiveness of ACMECS economies towards making the group a leading investment and tourism destination, especially in border areas, and maximising growth opportunities generated by the ASEAN Economic Community and free trade agreements.

Established in 2003, ACMECS groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung cheers Vietnamese investors in Myanmar

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended a ceremony on June 23 to mark the completion of the first phase of construction of the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Myanmar Centre in Myanmar during his visit to the country to attend the 7 th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit and the 6th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit .

The PM also participated in a similar event on the same day to inaugurate activities of the financial and insurance companies of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) in Myanmar.

He praised the Association of Vietnamese Investors to Myanmar (AVIM), BIDV and the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group for their efforts to promote trade and investment activities in Myanmar, saying positive business results reaped by Vietnamese firms in the country contributed practically to the bilateral relations.

While highlighting the potential for the two countries to boost their cooperation, he urged AVIM to increase its role in supporting Vietnamese firms to expand business and investment in Myanmar, focusing on finance, banking and real estate.

AVIM should team up with relevant ministries and sectors of the two countries to map out measures to address difficulties in implementing bilateral cooperation agreements, the PM stressed.

The Vietnamese leader also thanked the Myanmar Government and Yangon regional authorities in particular for facilitating Vietnam’s investment projects in the country.

Vietnam hopes to strengthen all-around links with Myanmar, but especially in 12 priority sectors stated in the Joint Statement on cooperation between the two countries signed in April 2010, the PM said.

On the occasion, the PM Dung witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between BIDV and Myanmar’s Global Treasury Bank and a 30 million USD credit contract between BIDV and SMIDB bank which will serve Myanmar’s small- and medium-size enterprise development.

Invested by the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Myanmar Centre has been the largest foreign-invested project in real estate in Myanmar so far with 440 million USD in investment. One completed, it is expected to become an architectural highlight for Yangon.

The first phase saw the construction of a shopping centre, two 27-storey office buildings and a hotel with more than 400 rooms.

The second phase of the project began this month on 63,800 square metres, with four 28-storey buildings for apartments and for-rent office to be built, and is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

PM flies home, concludes Myanmar visit

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Yangon city, Myanmar for Vietnam on June 23, concluding his two-day visit to attend the seventh Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit and the sixth Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit.

His proposed initiatives and recommendations were highly welcomed by member states, especially cooperation programmes for each country’s prosperity and for regional peace, stability and prosperity.

During the CLMV Summit, the Vietnamese PM and leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar reiterated their commitment to foster the traditional relationship, neighbourliness and cooperation for mutual interests of member countries.

Reviewing the progress of their two-year coordination and discussing future tasks, they adopted a CLMV Action Plan in economics and trade to facilitate trade and investment through bilateral and multilateral deals.

Participating countries are to spread the one-stop-shop inspections model at international border gates, utilise the potential of trans-national economic corridors such as the East-West Economic Corridor and the southern economic corridor while developing policies to encourage investment in agriculture, industry and energy.

The PM once again reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s commitments to CLMV cooperation and hoped the quartet would continue working together to successfully realise cooperation programmes for the sake of the region.

At the end of the summit, leaders adopted a joint statement and agreed to organise the eighth CLMV Summit in Vietnam in 2016.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese leader also revealed a plan to hold a high-level business dialogue on the Mekong sub-region on the margins of the eighth CLMV Summit, a joint effort by Vietnam and the World Economic Forum.

While attending the ACMECS Summit, PM Nguyen Tan Dung and leaders hailed the progresses on goals set in the 2013-2015 Action Plan, especially in transport connectivity, trade and investment facilitation, development of trans-national economic corridors such as the East-West Economic Corridor and the southern economic corridor, green tourism and agriculture cooperation.

A 2016-2018 Plan of Action was adopted to improve the competitiveness of ACMECS economies towards transforming the group into a leading investment and tourism destination, especially in border areas, and maximising growth opportunities generated by the ASEAN Economic Community and free trade agreements.

Eight priority cooperation areas are defined as trade-investment, agriculture, industry-energy, transport, human resources development, tourism, healthcare and environmental protection.

Later at a dialogue between ACMECS leaders and business community, the Vietnamese PM hoped enterprises would participate more deeply and actively in the building and implementation of cooperation programmes and provide relevant feedback,

During his stay, he met President of Myanmar Thein Sein and attended several ceremonies hosted by Vietnamese investors in the country.

VNA