by Vu Kim Chung
14-7-2000
The second ASEAN Ministers' Conference on Mekong river basin development cooperation was held in Ha Noi July 4, 2000. Present at the conference was Deputy Secretary General Tran Duc Minh of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and delegations from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
Addressing the conference, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam said that in the context of globalization and international integration, ASEAN member countries and partners as well as international and regional organizations had expressed their growing concern for cooperation in developing the Mekong region.
The participants were presented with a report on a feasibility study of the Singapore-Kunming trans-Asia railway route. They worked out orientations for cooperation among regional countries with the aim of making the Mekong River basin an area of sustainable and effective development in ASEAN member countries.
The first conference was held in Kualar Lumpur, Malaysia in June 1996 on the initiative on Mekong river basin development cooperation, which was passed at the fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, Thailand. The initiative aimed to facilitate economic development for all ASEAN member countries in the Mekong river basin. The participants set the orientation for cooperation projects, including the Singapore-Kunming trans-Asia railway project.