Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:On behalf of the People and the Royal Government of Cambodia, I am much honored and extremely delighted to welcome to Phnom Penh the Leaders of China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. I am also very pleased to welcome the President of the Asian Development Bank. Welcome to Cambodia! Thank you all for being here!
The GMS Program: Strengthening Regional Integration
Our 1st GMS Summit takes place just before the 8th ASEAN Summit tomorrow – and such scheduling is not an accident, it is by design. The GMS Program is a sub-regional program, that is, it addresses development issues in the Mekong sub-region of the broader ASEAN and Asian area. The GMS Program helps bridge the gaps in the development status among the members of the ASEAN – especially the newer members who are also partners in the GMS Program. Therefore, the GMS Program strengthens the complementarity and fuels synergy among all the regional initiatives for socio-economic progress and sustainable poverty alleviation across the entire region.
The 1990s: A Truly Significant Decade for All GMS Nations
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The people and Royal Government of Cambodia are greatly honored and deeply touched to host this historic 1st GMS Summit. Not only is this Summit the first, but this year we join in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the GMS Program.In the perspective of history, ten years – a single decade, is a very short period, indeed. Yet I suggest that the people of Cambodia, and all the peoples and nations of the GMS are exultant, that we have arrived at this 10th milestone. This is because, when we look back, we are amazed as we realize how far we have moved forward, in just ten, short years!Let us recall that a mere decade ago, our region was an area of uncertain and painful transition, civil strife and extreme poverty. The region was divided into two opposing blocks. The GMS nations were struggling against great odds in economic and political management and reform to win peace and promote their people’s well-being. Moreover, we were concerned that any fallout due to extreme poverty and uncertainty, if not strife, among our neighbors would inevitably spill across borders, and affect us.
We have all worked very hard to achieve better lives for our peoples. In the past ten years, the GMS nations have undergone a profound transformation. Just a decade ago, our region seemed mired in backwardness, instability and poverty. Today, the GMS is increasingly the epicenter of peace, cooperation and progress, strengthened by growing self-confidence and mutual trust.It is greatly heartening that so far, we have achieved success in the GMS despite the uncertainty and some setbacks recently experienced in the world order. There was the Asian financial crisis, natural calamities and floods, doldrums in key economies, and September 11, 2001. Yet through all these challenges, the sub-region has remained stable, and in fact, rapidly recovered and even grew in recent years. I dare say we have done very well indeed, and we should be proud!
Our Vision of GMS Development
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
So today, at this very important 1st GMS Summit, we must re-affirm our commitment to regional cooperation and implementation of our common strategy toward a brighter future for our peoples. Our region is blessed with natural and human endowments which, wisely harnessed, provide the foundation for sustained and shared growth and development. Our Mekong/ Lancang River provides great potentials for power as well as food and transport. The fertile banks of the Mekong have nurtured the flourishing of not only one of the most diverse flora and fauna found anywhere, but also one of the world’s richest tapestries of cultures, histories and peoples.
I am absolutely convinced that the Governments of the GMS have, at this juncture of history, the unprecedented opportunity to grasp, for good, the reins of prosperity. To achieve this, what is required from us is no less than full cooperation, in pursuit of a common vision of development and peace.Our vision is a GMS that is an integrated, prosperous community of nations that ensures equitable development for all people.Our vision is of a GMS that fulfills its vast potential, freeing people from poverty and opening sustainable development opportunities for all areas and ethnic groups.Our vision is a GMS marked by unity of purpose, where countries large and small, are equal partners in the pursuit of dignity and prosperity. Our vision is a GMS that enables the broadest participation, where local, national and regional interests blend – resulting in a Sub-region that is much more than the sum of its parts.
The GMS Strategic Framework
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
In pushing forward our unified strategy to achieve development in the GMS, the challenge we face is: how do we build upon our success, and harness our rich diversity to achieve shared prosperity?We have been working to build the GMS economic corridors, founded on hardware as well as software pillars. The hard components are cross-border infrastructure: roads, telecommunications and power. The soft components are sub-regional policies, regulations and strategies on facilitation of travel, transport, trade, investments, information and HRD. All these investments and efforts will, within the foreseeable future, transform the Subregional economy into a broad, rapidly growing market of close to 300 million people who enjoy the benefits of prosperity and peace.Yet, I am certain that we desire not only improved lives for our current generation. We pursue development not only for our people today – but for our children and their offspring, far into the future. In short, we want to ensure that any improvements in well-being that we achieve today will be sustained.
Taking Care of the GMS Future
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
We are conscious that the decisions we make today will have consequences across not only space, but also across time. Inevitably and unavoidably, environmental interests span borders as well as generations. This reality was again emphasized in recent international gatherings – at Doha, and more recently at Johannesburg. Environmental sustainability is a global challenge intimately linked with globalization and responsible multilateral trade and exchange. All nations serve as stewards of a grave, world-wide obligation, since clearly, environmental security is as important as economic and political security.It is therefore with deep concern for our shared future that the Royal Government of Cambodia highlights three elements that we must all promote to help ensure sustainable poverty alleviation in the GMS:
First, the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.Second, the implementation and expansion of afforestation and reforestation programs across the GMS, and
Third, the careful management of the Mekong River.
With regard to international environmental policy, Cambodia has already ratified the Kyoto Protocol. In this, let us applaud and commend the leadership demonstrated by the Peoples’ Republic of China. At the Johannesburg Summit, H.E. Premier Zhu Rongji announced that China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
We all stand to gain or to lose, depending on whether our environmental management is appropriate or not. In this sense, I call for the implementation, as soon as possible, of broad reforestation as well as afforestation programs in each of our GMS countries. We should utilize the gifts that natural forests give us. However, as responsible citizens we need to take pro-active action to ensure that future generations will also have access to forest resources. Certainly, those who bear the costs or reap the benefits of our environmental practices today is not our current generation, but our children and their own.Our top priority in ensuring environmental cooperation within the GMS is the management of the Mekong River.
As riparian nations, our histories and livelihoods are linked to the ebb and flow of the Mekong. We may suffer from the Mekong’s floods, yet the rich soil it distributes and the fish it nurtures sustain us. Because of our common dependence on its riches, the Mekong River is now under increasing pressure. We see the signs of such stress in erosion, siltation and changes in water currents. Also observed has been some reduction in fishery resources, impediments to river transportation and unexpected flooding. These phenomena have resulted in erosion of some riverbank land and forced resettlement of communities. All these urgently require our unified attention. The efforts of all agencies concerned with the development of the Mekong River Basin need to be well-coordinated and strengthened. For the sake of our common futures, we must implement a Mekong management strategy that ensures sustainability.
Anticipating Accelerated Tourism Development
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
Our Mekong subregion is uniquely blessed, with amazing wealth and diversity in history, culture, geography, flora and fauna. We are all concerned about sustaining such wealth for two reasons: First, because by exploiting the subregion’s resources for production we generate current incomes, and Second, because by preserving our subregion’s cultural and historical legacy and natural resources, we also promote the development of tourism and related services – leading to greater employment and growth over the long haul. Tourism opens up borders and economies, yet enables opportunities to develop internal markets for a wide variety of high value-added production activities, employment and services.In just a few weeks, the ASEAN Tourism Forum will take place here in Phnom Penh.
The Forum will specifically address the promotion of the ASEAN-10 region as a single destination. Yet it is easy to see that the GMS sub-region is a very important subset of the overall ASEAN tourism market. Already we are seeing dynamic synergy in travel and tourism among the various GMS cities. As the GMS economic and transport corridors become established, so will travel and tourism among our countries intensify.
Building GMS Development Management Capacity
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The building of human resources in the GMS is our top priority. Thus I am gratified that we are launching the project called: Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management in the GMS. Indeed, analysis of international experience demonstrates that development begins and ends with human beings. We are the architects as well as the beneficiaries – and at unfortunate moments, the victims – of our own development visions and strategies. Especially to us in the GMS, history makes obvious the need for human resources endowed with knowledge, skills, and attitudes that not only ensure simple economic growth, but also equitably shared and sustained development.
Mobilizing Added Resources for GMS Investments
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The building of partnerships among all stakeholders is also crucial in the promotion of development. It is incumbent upon us to strengthen the ties among and between the GMS countries and development partners.Allow me to highlight the pivotal role played by the Asian Development Bank in promoting the GMS Program. The ADB has been a key player in the various GMS initiatives since Day 1 of the GMS Program. The ADB has also provided substantial funding for the regional infrastructure network. At the same time, the ADB has taken the lead in the development of the GMS in an innovative manner. We must all express our deep appreciation for the extraordinary efforts of the ADB on our behalf.
Other development partners have also been working toward complementary goals. In order to complete the GMS infrastructure system, we must mobilize additional resources to finance the entire GMS Program of investments. In fact, much of the homework has already been accomplished. The tasks that remain are the execution of the specific investments along the GMS economic corridors.The GMS investment strategies should be so designed to enable private participation and investments. Ultimately, private enterprise will be the engine of growth in the GMS, operating within a positive investment environment nurtured by the GMS partners. As a result, the private sector’s financial resources, expertise and technology generate the dynamics of growth and accelerated development across the subregion.
Forging Our Way Forward
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
We have gained major headway in upgrading our thrust from one focused at transport corridors to the promotion of comprehensive economic corridors. With consistent implementation, these efforts will allow all GMS partners to boost trade and investment, develop both urban and rural areas, improve access to all parts of the subregion and ultimately reduce poverty among our peoples. We are all optimistic, buoyed up by the success achieved over the last decade. However, we cannot relax and rest. We have a long way to travel, and there remain obstacles and major challenges in our path. Two major challenges I have already spoken of earlier are about the sustainable management of common resources, and the long-term building of human resources and capacity.
The other concerns for which we must also find unified solutions are complex, yet must be attended to so that we can build a GMS community characterized by stability, mutual understanding and respect. These concerns include: (a) cross-border migration and labor exchange; (b) the trafficking of persons, particularly women and children; and (c) the trafficking of illegal drugs and weapons.The success of the first decade of the GMS Program augurs well for further and faster success in the future. Still before us is a long agenda of work, which among many others, includes:
- Enhanced risk management to attract private sector financing for public sector projects;Improvements in GMS institutional mechanisms to cope with new roles and demands of regional cooperation;
- Strategic mitigation of social and environmental consequences of subregional infrastructure development; and
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:I am optimistic that all GMS countries share the same vision of turning our subregion from one stricken by conflict and poverty, to an oasis of cooperation and prosperity. We have a clear, undeniable obligation to promote sustainable development and poverty alleviation across the GMS.
However, we should all be aware that the realization of our ambitious vision requires strong will and enhanced partnership among us all. Our mission as GMS Leaders is not easy, and our journey will not be smooth. We have already spent ten years in this process – and that is just the first ten years of many more decades of work. Truly, the GMS mission is for the long haul, and it is a mission that we must undertake, and a path toward development we must tread – together – as one!
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