Mekong nations reap gains from pact
THE Lancang-Mekong Coopera-tion (LMC) initiative has significantly contributed to economic growth in terms of trade, investment and capacity building in countries in the Mekong basin, a Chinese senior official said.
Beijing promised to help countries in the basin to expand their trade with China, have more Chinese enterprises to invest in |the region as well as provide |more training opportunities |for their personnel, said the Ministry of Commerce’s deputy director general of Asian Affairs, Peng Gang.
Set up in 2015, the LMC comprises six riparian countries of the Mekong River: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Their foreign ministers gathered for the third ministerial meeting last week in Dali, in southern China’s Yunnan province, and the leaders of the six would give final endorsement for the five-year plan of action when they meet in January in Phnom Penh.
Although the cooperation scheme is relatively young, Peng said the LMC has played a significant role in enhancing trade, investment, infrastructure construction and human resource development.
The total population of five Mekong countries – excluding s China - is nearly 240 million and their combined GDP last year was more than $710 billion, so it has large labour and consumer markets as well as broad prospects for development, Peng said.
Since the establishment of the LMC, the economies of China and the other five countries have maintained dynamic growth, leading to broadened economic outcomes in trade, investment and all other areas, he said.
China is the largest trade partner and the largest import sourcing country for Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. It is the second-largest trade partner and third-largest import sourcing country for Laos, he said.
In the mean time, China is the largest export market for Myanmar, second largest for Laos and Thailand, third largest for Vietnam and the sixth largest for Cambodia, he said. “If we take the five Mekong countries as a whole, they are China’s fifth largest trade partner in the world,” Peng said.
In 2016, total trade volume between China and the five Mekong countries was $193.5 billion accounting for 5.3 per cent of China’s foreign trade. From January to October this year, trade volume between China and the five Mekong countries was totally $177.8 billion increasing 15.6 per cent year on year.
China’s investment in the five Mekong countries is also increasing. In 2016, China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to these countries was $2.6 billion.
From January to October this year, the value has reached $ 2.7 billion, increasing 22.3 per cent year on year. This growth is more than China’s investment around the world and in the other countries of Asean, Peng said.
Projects constructed by China in the Mekong countries includes Cambodia’s Sihanoukville port, Laos’s economic development zone, Vietnam’s industrial parks and Thailand’s Rayong industrial park. Myanmar’s Kyaukphyu economic zone is under construction at present, he said.
China’s investment in the five Mekong countries covers energy, textiles, mineral products, manufacturing, financing, logistics, telecommunication and e-commerce, he said.
China’s investment in infrastructure has made a great contribution to the Mekong countries, Peng said. As of October, Chinese enterprises signed contracts for infrastructure development projects in the five Mekong coun-|tries worth $ 138 billion, increasing 9.2 per cent from the end of last year.
Visitors from five countries to China reached 27.8 million this year. Now, China provides the largest number of tourists to Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, with the second-largest number for Cambodia and the third largest for Laos, Peng said.
Since the establishment of LMC, China has provided eight training programmes for 3,000 people from the Mekong countries covering areas of management, administration, trade, economic, foreign affairs, public health, education, finance and culture, he said.
To finance infrastructure development and production capacity projects, China set up a 10 billion yuan concessional loan and $10 billion credit line including $5 billion preferential export credit and $5 billion on production capacity cooperation.
China will help Mekong countries to have opportunities to expand their export to China by inviting chambers of commerce and delegations of relevant in-|dustries to an international export expo in Shanghai next year, Peng said.
