The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Program convened a Development Partners’ Meeting on 20 October 2020 via web-based conferencing. The Development Partners’ Meeting serves as a forum for discussions among GMS senior officials, representatives of development partners, private sector, and civil society that are actively involved in the GMS Program. The meeting preceded the 24th GMS Ministerial Meeting held on 4 November 2020.

Mr. Wang Zhongjing, Director General, Ministry of Finance, People’s Republic of China, chaired the meeting. Mr. Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General, Southeast Asia Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB), served as meeting cochair.

Participants were briefed on ADB responses to COVID-19 through GMS cooperation. In the health sector, over $60 million assistance was organized for pandemic response, with the GMS Development Partners mobilizing a sizable support. Cooperation in health cooperation, tourism, transport and trade facilitation, agriculture, environment, and urban development, were also presented. In addition, the meeting highlighted ADB’s COVID-19 support through the GMS Health Security project, the COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program, and Policy Actions for COVID-19 Economic Recovery (PACER) Dialogues.

The meeting also shared the preparation of the proposed GMS COVID-19 Response and Recovery Plan (2021-2023), which comprises three pillars: (i) pillar 1: protecting lives: a One Health approach; (ii) pillar 2: protecting the vulnerable and the poor; and (iii) pillar 3: keeping borders open and accelerating economic activity.

The meeting explained the rationale for the draft GMS-2030, and described its vision for a “more integrated, prosperous, sustainable, and equitable subregion.” This mission statement builds on the 3Cs of connectivity, competitiveness, and community, while embracing environmental sustainability and resilience, internal and external integration, inclusivity, and innovative cross-cutting approaches.

Development Partners were invited to share their views on the GMS COVID-19 Response and the GMS-2030 Strategy, and the prospective roles they could play in supporting COVID-19 responses and in the GMS’s priority areas. The common themes that arose from the discussion with the development partners were (i) strong commitment to support the GMS countries in building back better from COVID-19, (ii) inclusive development that protects vulnerable
communities, and (iii) sustainable development. Development partners emphasized that strong partnerships and synergies, digitalization across sectors, and increased private sector development and participation are enabling factors to achieve these goals.

Twenty Development Partners gave verbal statements during the meeting and two provided written statements. The partners who made interventions were:

• AEM-METI Economic and Industrial Cooperation Committee (AMEICC)
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
• Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
• Mission of European Union (EU) to ASEAN
• European Investment Bank (EIB)
• Food and Agriculture Organization*
• GIZ Cambodia*
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Korea Exim Bank- Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF)
• Mekong Institute (MI)
• Mekong River Commission (MRC)
• Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA)
• Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO)
• Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA)
• UN Capital Development Fund (UNCD)
• UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA)
• World Bank
• World Food Programme (WFP)

^*written statements

The GMS Secretariat briefed Development Partners on the Third Progress Report and Update of the Regional Investment Framework 2022. The RIF pipeline consists of 185 investment and 85 technical assistance projects with an estimated total of $78.3 billion in financing needs. Approximately $55.6 billion (71%) of the total RIF project cost estimates has available financing. For projects with available financing, GMS governments continue to provide the bulk of the project financing, while development partner financing comprised 5%.

Close to 200 participants from 54 development partner organizations, private sector, and knowledge institutions attended the meeting.