Acmecs action plan highlights transport and tourism

Achievements in the Acmecs cooperation as well as enhancing regional economic integration are integral to Asean community building by 2015, said Laos’s Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, who chaired the 5th summit of the Acmecs.

The action plan targets implementation in eight priority areas: trade and investment, agriculture, energy, transportation linkages, tourism, human resource development, health and the environment.

Established since 2003, the Acmecs is a brainchild of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and aims to bridge development gaps among countries in the region.

Acmecs is made of five countries in three river basins: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra noted that world development is moving to Asia and Asean. This sub-region is also a focus for the international community, she said.

Thailand would invest Bt2 trillion ($66 billion) to construct infrastructure such as a land bridge to link Laem Chabang and Myanmar’s Dawei special economic zone. Such investment could boost an increase in cross-border trade by Bt 45 billion annually, she said.

Transport linkages were highlighted in the Acmecs action plan to increase the sub-region’s attractiveness as a single production, investment, and tourism destination. The group emphasised the development of the software side of connectivity by harmonising transport procedures to facilitate cross-border movement within the sub-region.

The group would support the extension of economic corridors and additional routes. The action plan aims to develop Laos’s routes No. 8 and 12 under the trilateral cooperation between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

Lao premier Thongsing urged member countries to adopt the idea of having a single stop inspection at border checkpoints, pointing out that Laos and Vietnam successfully launched a pilot project at Laos’s Densavanh and Vietnam’s Lao Bao checkpoints several years ago. Such a service could be further studied and expanded to other international checkpoints between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, he said.

To generate more economic activities as well as the utilisation of transport routes, the leaders said they would encourage the establishment of industrial zone along the border of member countries and other areas along economic corridors such as the East-West, North-South and Southern corridors.

Prime Minister Yingluck said her government had allocated a budget of Bt15 billion for infrastructure development to link with neighbouring countries.

The leaders agreed to Thailand’s proposal to speed up the implementation of rice trade cooperation. The action plan would develop the modalities, including measures to support the strengthening of regional and global food security.

On tourism, the leaders agreed to launch a new ‘tourism corridor’ to link the ancient capitals of Bagan, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Siem Reap and Hue.

The leaders urged other member countries to join the Acmecs single visa scheme to facilitate tourism with a “five countries, one destination” concept. Thailand and Cambodia last year jointly launched the single visa scheme to boost tourism. Visitors from 35 countries can now enter Thailand and Cambodia on one visa.