[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
DAM-L LS: ASEAN call for funds to develop Mekong (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net -----
From owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net Fri Jul 28 15:19:22 2000
Return-Path: <owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net>
Received: from DaVinci.NetVista.net (mjdomo@mail.netvista.net [206.170.46.10])
by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA22592
for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 15:19:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Received: [(from mjdomo@localhost)
by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) id e6SJE9r19145
for irn-mekong-list; Fri, 28 Jul 2000 12:14:09 -0700 (PDT)
(envelope-from owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net)]
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 12:14:09 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <200007281914.e6SJE9r19145@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
subject: LS: ASEAN call for funds to develop Mekong
Sender: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk
AFP: POORER ASEAN MEMBERS CLAMOUR FOR FUNDS TO DEVELOP MEKONG REGION
July 25, 2000
ASEAN's comparatively poor new members are clamouring for a piece of the
region's economic action and called Tuesday for funds to accelerate the
Mekong Basin development.
Foreign ministers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam have
warned at the grouping's annual meeting here that ASEAN will not
progress unless it bridges the economic gaps among its 10 members.
The five Southeast Asian nations share the Mekong river with China's
Yunan province. The region covers a total land area of 2.3 million
square kilometres, with a combined population of nearly 240 million
people.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said the development of the Mekong
Basin has been hampered by the 1997 regional economic debacle but he
urged the grouping to renew efforts to seek financing to open it up.
"We need funds to implement the project," he told AFP.
"We need to talk to Japan and other donor countries like the EU. We have
agreed that something should be done. It is very important to close the
gap with the less-developed countries within ASEAN."
A senior ASEAN official said Vietnam which became a member in 1995,
Cambodia and Laos in 1997 and Myanmar last year, were growing impatient
with the slow pace of development in the Mekong area.
"They feel that they have been given big promises when they joined ASEAN
but little is being done," the official said.
An ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) committee was set
up in 1996, but became dormant when the economic crisis struck.
Pradap Pibulsonggram, ASEAN director-general in Thailand's foreign
ministry, said the AMBDC had been reactivated and had held its second
meeting in Hanoi last month.
"There is now renewed determination among ASEAN members to speed up
development in the area. We have a better chance to move it forward now
that the region has rebounded," he told AFP.
The committee is expected to gather again in Bangkok in October next
year to revive talks on a proposal to construct a railway line from
Singapore to Kunming, he said.
There are also plans to invite representatives from China, Japan and
Korea to attend the meeting as part of efforts to build up interest and
attract more funds, he added.
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai on Monday said the development of the
Mekong sub-region was vital to ASEAN's growth.
"There is a compelling need to expedite infrastructure development and
the capacity-building program so as to ensure the region's economic
integration," Chuan told the ASEAN foreign ministers.
"Only by closing the gap between old and new members will ASEAN be able
to move ahead with the speed and direction expected of it."
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong called Monday for a Mekong Basin
Development Fund to be set up and said the project needed support from
ASEAN's dialogue partners, particularly Japan.
He also urged the grouping to allocate funds to conduct feasibility
studies on possible projects in the area.
"The process of regional integration will not succeed unless there is a
balance of development within ASEAN ... It is essential to set up
strategies and programs to eliminate or substantially reduce such a
disparity within ASEAN as soon as possible," he said.
He was backed by his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Dy Nien, who sought a
"higher priority" in ASEAN for projects in the Mekong area.
"ASEAN could hardly become a powerful economic entity if the development
gap among its member countries keeps widening," Nguyen warned.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says the Mekong region has vast
potential in terms of natural resources and a large labour pool, but
cites environment, income gap, infrastructure development and human
resources as key obstacles to growth.
It projects gross domestic product in the Mekong to surge to 863 billion
dollars in 2010, up from 238 billion dollars in 1996.
The ADB, which formed an economic cooperation body in 1992 to promote
growth in the area, estimates nearly 10 billion dollars is needed to
develop its transport and energy sectors alone.
----- End of forwarded message from owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net -----