Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the 9th Ayeyawady-ChaoPhraya-🅠Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (😼ACMECS) Summit held via videoconference on December 9.

He affirmed thesignificance of the cooperation and coordination between the five countries inthe Mekong sub-region in a joint effort to bolster socio-economic development, witha target of building a competitive, dynamic and sustainable economy. He pointed out anumber of orientations to improve ACMECS’ efficiency and role in the time tocome, stating that overcoming COVID-19 is an important task, followed bygradually reviving the economy and upholding the strategic role of connectingthe Indian and Pacific Oceans. To realise suchtargets, the countries must ensure ceaseless and harmonious connectivity in thesub-region, fostering transport, trade and investment along economic corridors,and develop a transport infrastructure along the borders. They shouldstrictly realise signed bilateral and multilateral agreements and pay attentionto smart and sustainable agricultural development, for the establishment of theMekong agricultural value chain and further integration into the global supplychain. Cooperation inenvironmental protection, sustainable management of natural resources andnatural disaster and climate change adaptation must also be strengthened, the Vietnamese PM added. With the theme of “Partnership for Connectivity and Resilience”, delegates reviewed theimplementation of the Bangkok Declaration and the 2019-2023 ACMECS Master Planapproved during the 8th ACMECS Summit held in June 2018 in Thailand. They also discussed measures to consolidatecooperation in the new period. Regarding cooperationin the past two years, the leaders welcomed positive results obtained in theimplementation of the ACMECS Master Plan focusing onthe three pillars of hard and soft infrastructure connectivity,and smart and sustainable development. They spoke highly of member countries' efforts in devising guiding documents such as the Terms of Reference of theACMECS Development Fund, Concept Paper on Working Mechanism for ACMECSCoordinating Committees and List of ACMECS Prioritised Projects. The leaders also took note of progress ofthe building of the network of ACMECS Development Partners, particularly theapproval of partners in Phase 1, and are to agree on the list of Phase 2. On future cooperation, they affirmed thedetermination to promote cooperation in environmental protection, smartagriculture development and sustainable management of the waters of Mekong River,disaster management and climate change. They also vowed to enhance efforts inbattling COVID-19 and recovering their economies, facilitate the engagement andcontributions of development partners, international organisations and the privatesector in the implementation of the three pillars of the ACMECS Master Plan, andpromptly bring the ACMECS Development Fund into operational. The leaders will strive to ensureconnectivity and resonance between ACMECS cooperation with ASEAN and relatedsub-region cooperation mechanism, and consider improving structure andoperation of ACMECS towards bolstering efficiency and capitalising on resources. They concluded the Summit byadopting the Phnom Penh Declaration of the 9th ACMECS Summit and agreeing that Laoswill be the chair of the upcoming one./.