Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos unveil new economic roadmap
Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos unveil new economic roadmap
Agence France-Presse Bagan, Myanmar
The leaders of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos on Wednesday announced a new economic roadmap aimed at accelerating growth and lifting the region's people out of poverty.
At a one-day summit in Myanmar's ancient former capital they signed the Bagan declaration which committed them to boost trade and investment, improve agricultural and industrial cooperation and promote tourism and job creation.
The four leaders said the Economic Cooperation Strategy (ECS) initiative will "act as a catalyst to promote regional cooperation".
They pledged to work together "to fully harness their enormous economic potential to promote spontaneous and sustainable economic development, and to uplift the welfare and quality of life of our citizens".
The agreement was signed by Myanmar's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt and his counterparts from Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, Cambodia's Hun Sen and Boungnang Vorachit from Laos.
Despite frequent rows and prickly relationships between some of the nations, they said they aim to boost prosperity through "enhanced solidarity, mutual respect, close friendship, good neighborliness and active cooperation".
The ECS is an initiative of Thailand's Thaksin, who said on the weekend that the kingdom would benefit from bridging the economic divide with its poorer nabbers.
"It would be more practical if we help them by creating jobs and encouraging them to solve their internal problems," he said. "Brush them off and we'll suffer. Drugs, illegal migrants and crime are really big problems."
The Nation newspaper quoted him as saying during a visit to Yangon which preceded the summit that the combined economic output of the three neighboring countries was less than 10 percent of Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP).
Thaksin has said he would use the talks to press Myanmar's ruling generals to speed up the resettlement of thousands of migrants returning home from Thailand, where they fled to escape political repression and grinding poverty.
About a million Myanmar nationals are thought to be working in Thailand, around half of them illegally, providing a perennial irritant to the troubled bilateral relationship.
However, Thaksin has signaled the issue of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not be on the agenda of the summit, despite intense international pressure for the junta to release her from house arrest.
The Bangkok Post said in an editorial Wednesday that Thaksin should use his influence to push for change in the region and particularly in Myanmar which is widely condemned for its poor human rights record and refusal to recognize the opposition's 1990 election victory.
"Thaksin can do much in Burma to advance a solution to that country's terrible circumstances," it said, using Myanmar's former name.
"It is not only the poverty in Burma that is forcing immigrants to flee to Thailand but also the dire economic and political straits bedeviling Cambodia."
Cambodia has been plunged into political limbo since July elections in which Hun Sen's Cambodia's People's Party failed to capture the two-thirds majority it needed to rule in its own right, forcing it to seek coalition partners.
The four nations agreed to hold the ECS summit meet every two years, with Thailand to hold the next meeting in 2005. Ministers and senior officials are to meet annually.
Thailand also signed four energy deals, two with Myanmar and one each with Laos and Cambodia.