Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Sunday urged countries bordering the
Mekong River to enhance their economic cooperation, so as to bring
out their respective advantages and accelerate their economic
growth.
In
a key note speech delivered at the First Greater Mekong Subregion
Economic Cooperation Summit held in Phnom Penh, Zhu said all
countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are developing
countries with a relatively underdeveloped economy.
"To strengthen economic cooperation among GMS countries conforms to
the current trend of economic globalization and regional
integration," Zhu said.
Enhanced cooperation can help them participate in global economic
cooperation and competition, and strengthen their status as well as
that of the whole subregion in global politics and economies, said
the Chinese premier.
He
noted that the GMS enjoys a great market potential on the strength
of its vast area and large population.
Its abundant human, cultural and natural resources and strong
complementarity among the GMS economies provide a broad prospect of
cooperation, Zhu said.
In
order to ensure that regional cooperation move forward along a
sound track, Premier Zhu made a three-point proposal on expanding
and improving the mechanism of cooperation among the GMS
countries.
Firstly, he said, as countries in the GMS vary in size, development
level and national conditions, they should adhere to the principle
of equal consultation and mutual benefit.
They should steadily promote cooperation on the basis of mutual
respect, friendly consultation, and voluntariness, he added.
In
the second point of his proposal, Zhu said the GMS countries should
adhere to the principle of centering on projects and emphasizing
practical results.
"The GMS cooperation should follow its 'result-and action-oriented'
principle and focus on promoting the cooperation on specific
projects and programs," so as to bring about an all-round
development of their riparian economies, the Chinese premier
said.
The third point of Zhu's proposal called for adhering to the
principle of stressing key areas and proceeding in a step-by-step
manner.
"Right now, infrastructure sectors such as communication, energy
and telecommunications are the sectors leading the subregional
cooperation," Zhu said.
He
urged the GMS countries to expand cooperation in wider areas,
namely trade facilitation, investment climate improvement, human
resources development, tourism, agriculture, drug control and
environment.
Zhu stressed that strengthening the GMS cooperation is an
undertaking that benefits both the present and the future
generations.
He
expressed the belief that the GMS economic cooperation will
gradually expand and achieve great success with the concerted
efforts of all parties to the first GMS summit, which opened here
earlier in the day.
(Xinhua News
Agency November 4, 2002)