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Greater Mekong Sub-Region Business Council held in Kunming

By Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-08 13:29

The Second Meeting of Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) Business Council held in Kunming, the capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province on Tuesday.

Since the GMS mechanism for economic cooperation was initiated in 1992, the sub-regional countries have, by collaborative efforts from all sides and with strong support from the Asian Development Bank, conducted productive cooperation in many areas including: transportation, energy, agriculture, tourism, trade, investment, environmental protection, human resource development and crop substitution.

Xu Ningning, the executive secretary general of China-ASEAN Business Council, said, furthering of GMS economic cooperation will produce the following benefits: achieve connectivity in transportation, telecommunication and energy sectors; accelerate coupling of industrial, trade and investment policies; promote inter and intra-regional interaction and collaboration among the industrial and commercial communities to develop, create and profit from business opportunities.

Xu added, whereas GMS countries have huge potential in jointly advancing connectivity in all areas with numerous business opportunities arising from such connectivity, the corporate world is provided with more chances to conduct pragmatic cooperation, speed up commercial growth and expand areas for collaboration. This will have a realistic significance as it gives full play to the corporate role in GMS cooperation.

The GMS Business Council, officially established on June 8, 2010 in Kunming, provides a platform for communication and dialogues under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area framework to strengthen corporate partnership in GMS countries and regions. By fully engaging the industrial and commercial communities in GMS economic cooperation, it will unleash the potential and contribute to the economic growth and social prosperity of this region.