The Joint Coordination Committee meets to find mechanisms to promote cooperation in the CLV Development Triangle Area.

Joint Coordination Committee meets to find mechanisms to promote cooperation in the CLV Development Triangle Area

The 13th meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee of the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area was held in Attapeu (Laos), aiming to find directions and mechanisms to promote cooperation in the Area.

On the morning of March 1, the 13th meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee of the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area was held in Attapeu (Laos).

The conference was chaired by Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Khammouane Vongphosy, Chairman of the Coordination Committee of the Lao PDR; Minister of Commerce CHAM Nimul, Chairman of the Coordination Committee of Cambodia, and Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Chairman of the Coordination Committee on the CLV Development Triangle Area of Vietnam.

Speaking at the conference, Minister Kham-chen Vong-pho-sy said that in recent times, the governments of the three countries have together urged and promoted strong cooperation, thereby enhancing socio -economic development, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, and improving people's lives.

Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Khammouane Vongphosy

However, along with the achievements, there are still shortcomings and challenges that need to be addressed to make cooperation in the Region more effective, especially in finding capital to organize the implementation of new priority projects of the Region...

“We need to work together to create a good environment for trade, investment and tourism , promote the implementation of priority projects, connect the three economies, thereby shortening the development gap in the region,” Minister Khammouane Vongphosy emphasized.

Meanwhile, Minister CHAM Ni-mul made a series of proposals to promote cooperation in the CLV Development Triangle Area, including the early completion of reports on the socio-economic development of the Area, the plan to connect the three economies, as well as how to promote the improvement of human resource quality, attract investment, and implement joint projects of the Development Triangle Area...

“We also need to effectively implement the action plan for tourism development, considering tourism as the focus of cooperation, with the motto of 3 countries, 1 destination. At the same time, we need to continue to effectively cooperate in developing rubber trees, processing rubber for domestic consumption and exporting abroad,” Minister CHAM Ni-mul emphasized, adding that we also need to pay more attention to promoting trade, implementing trade promotion and facilitation activities as committed.

Conference Overview

Agreeing with the opinions of the two Ministers from Laos and Cambodia, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that in order to promote the implementation as well as build the orientation and cooperation plan of the CLV Development Triangle Area for the following years, the three countries need to have breakthrough solutions in infrastructure development, human resource development and institutional reform.

Regarding infrastructure, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that countries need to prioritize resources for developing vital traffic routes to transport goods to seaports and commercial centers.

“Vietnam will prioritize the construction of the Ngoc Hoi - Quy Nhon expressway to serve the export demand of goods in the Development Triangle Area. We propose that Laos and Cambodia proactively prioritize resources to renovate and upgrade traffic routes connecting to Vietnam's Ngoc Hoi - Quy Nhon expressway,” Minister Nguyen Chi Dung proposed.

In addition to focusing on institutional reform, infrastructure development and human resources, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that the three countries need to continue implementing cooperation programs in various fields.

In particular, economic cooperation is one of the important highlights. The contents that need to be focused on promoting are building an Action Plan to promote the effective implementation of agreements and agreements that have been agreed and signed within the cooperation framework of the CLV Development Triangle Area, continuing to research to concretize, through specific mechanisms and policies for the CLV Development Triangle Area to encourage trade and investment, focusing on border trade and developing land border gate economy between the three countries, building border infrastructure, etc.

In addition, it is necessary to quickly and effectively implement the Action Plan to connect the three economies to improve competitiveness, the ability to attract foreign investment, and shorten the development gap with other ASEAN members.

From another perspective, the Minister said that, in addition to economic development cooperation, it is necessary to focus on strengthening cooperation in security - foreign affairs, society, environment; cooperation in finding resources to implement development projects in the region...

The three Ministers signed the Minutes of the Conference.

At the Conference, after listening to the SOM Head report on the results of the Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) yesterday (February 29), the Ministers highly appreciated the results of the meeting and agreed on a number of important directions for cooperation in the coming period.

“Our goal is to further strengthen cooperation in the CLV Development Triangle to restore the economy after the impact of Covid-19, facilitate trade and investment activities, and address challenges in trade, transportation and cross-border movement of people..., along with a number of other cooperation activities within the framework of the CLV Development Triangle,” Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized, saying that activities and programs that have been included in the cooperation framework and unanimously approved need to be coordinated and implemented to bring about specific results.

Accordingly, there must be a specific communication plan about cooperation programs to every citizen, investor and tourist, so that everyone can unanimously support and implement the cooperation programs.

In addition, each country needs to develop specific cooperation plans, programs and projects, identify and mobilize priority resources to implement approved cooperation plans and programs...

“We will work together closely and join hands to effectively implement the Development Triangle Area, so that the Triangle Area can develop further, for the development of each side and the entire Area,” said Minister Nguyen Chi Dung.

The CLV Development Triangle Joint Coordination Committee Meeting ended successfully, with high consensus on cooperation orientations as well as breakthrough solutions that need to be implemented to promote regional cooperation to become increasingly substantive and effective.

At the end of the Conference, the three Ministers signed the Minutes of the Conference.

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