On the morning of November 7, the 8th GMS Conference solemnly opened at the Hai Canh Conference Center (Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China). Attending the conference were heads of government, heads of delegations from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, China, and Vietnam; the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and many representatives of international and regional organizations.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the conference at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made important statements, summarizing lessons learned from 32 years of GMS cooperation and pointing out appropriate directions for the mechanism in the new development stage.
The Prime Minister affirmed the strategic role of GMS in the international integration and development process of the sub-region, emphasizing five valuable lessons from the success of GMS.
The Prime Minister said that it is time for the GMS to focus on developing new-generation economic corridors, with innovation at the center, going beyond the limits of traditional economic corridors.
The Prime Minister proposed three main contents of the new generation economic corridor, including:
First, the technology and innovation corridor, aiming at multi-subject, multi-sector, multi-stage connectivity. The focus is on supporting countries to overcome shortcomings in institutions, policies, and capacity in technology and innovation and in resources, including human resources and financial resources.
Second, the economic growth corridor, both renewing traditional growth drivers and promoting new growth drivers. Along with transport infrastructure projects, industrial production, and agriculture, the GMS needs to expand investment to create corridors for semiconductors, artificial intelligence, new materials, and clean energy; build digital platforms, expand digital markets, and improve digital skills of businesses and workers. It is necessary to create substantive and effective changes in facilitating the flow of capital, goods, and services in the GMS region.
Third, a green, sustainable and inclusive corridor ensures harmony between economic growth and environmental protection, with people at the center, as the subject, as the driving force, as the resource and as the goal of development. The GMS needs to further promote cooperation programs on environment and ecosystems, disaster management, and climate change response. The GMS also needs to attach special importance to cooperation with the Mekong River Commission in the effective, sustainable, equitable and reasonable management and use of the Mekong - Lancang common river and cooperation in applying technology to the integrated management of transboundary water resources.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that GMS members need to unite and coordinate to respond to challenges, and believes that, with the viewpoint of "respecting time, respecting intelligence, innovating to break through, being creative to reach far, integrating to move forward, uniting for more strength", this Summit will contribute to realizing the vision and goals of GMS.
The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam will continue to cooperate closely with member countries and development partners to build an innovative, creative, dynamic, sustainable and prosperous extended Mekong sub-region.
