World Economic Forum on Mekong Region first held in Vietnam

World Economic Forum on Mekong Region first held in Vietnam

Global Times | 25 October 2016

The World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Mekong Region was first held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Tuesday under the theme "Making the Mekong Mighty: Investing in Fixed Capital, Human Capital, and Network Capital."

The conference drew participation of some 200 delegates including leaders, heads of governments, economic ministers and companies' representatives from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand as well as WEF members.

A total of five discussing sessions were held Tuesday, with focus on development and integration issues of Mekong countries including development vision and orientation of Mekong region, resource mobilization for infrastructure development, trade-investment-tourism facilitation, promotion of industrialization, and sustainable development of the Mekong region in the context of the fourth industrial revolution.

Speaking on the opening of the conference, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged Mekong countries to boost economic connectivity, infrastructure development and connectivity, especially completion of sub-regional economic corridors, speed up efforts to realize sustainable development goals, including the sustainable use and management of Mekong River water.

Participants at the conference said besides potentials and opportunities, the Mekong region is also facing numerous challenges in the industrialization and development process such as environmental deterioration, increasing development gap among regional countries, decreasing advantages in natural resources and low labor cost among others.

The fact that WEF held a conference on the Mekong region shows attention of WEF members on the development potentials of the region, said Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the closing ceremony.