Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung,
Excellencies, Heads of the ACMECS Governments
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to see Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen once again in this important summit.
First, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Government of Vietnam for the warm hospitality extended to myself and members of the Cambodian delegation. I would also like to appreciate the Government of Vietnam for the excellent arrangements for this 3rd Summit.
Without a doubt, we have come a long way since the First Summit in Bagan in 2003. Therefore, this Third Summit is of great significance to ACMECS countries as well as the entire region to reaffirm our commitments to implement the goals set in theBagan Declaration, the Second Summit Declaration, review and assess the progress of the implementation of the Action Plan of our shared Economic Cooperation Strategy (ECS) after four years of the ACMECS implementation, and oversee the progress of the new Action Plan, adopted in Cebu, which aims at guiding the ACMECS cooperation towards the year 2012.
I am pleased to note that we have achieved steadfast and sustained progress in all of the seven areas of cooperation. Significant progress have been made especially in the bilateral cooperation between Cambodia and Thailand, and Cambodia and Vietnam in the areas of trade and investment facilitation, agriculture cooperation, transport linkage, tourism, and human resource management. Indeed, our further efforts to elevate ACMECS cooperation in facilitation of trade, investment and tourism will further boost economic growth and social progress, and make more contribution to narrow the development gap and reduce poverty incidence in the region.
I am also pleased and highly appreciate the successful conclusion of trade ministers’ meeting in Siem Reap last year. I believe that this is an important start in the area of food cooperation.
In spite of some significant progress over the last four years, the issue of financing remains a fundamental challenge for all of us. We should discuss this issue thoroughly at this Summit in order to come up with a creative and innovative mechanism for project financing.
Finally, may I conclude by reiterating our support for the shared vision of development among Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (CLMTV). Although, the CLMTV nations are at varying stages of economic development, I would like also to emphasize my conviction that the successful implementation of the Economic Cooperation Strategy will fulfill the shared vision of our nations, namely long-term peace and stability, good neighborliness, mutually beneficial development, and eventually transform our borderlines into zones of sustained economic growth, social progress and prosperity for all of our people.
EndItem.
