At the 4th Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Tourism Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic on 20 January 2013, the ministers called on the Tourism Working Group to address increasing competition from other regional destinations by further expanding mutually beneficial partnerships with bilateral and multilateral agencies, the private sector, and civil society. They also encouraged the working group and the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office in Bangkok, Thailand to create a centralized tourism knowledge management platform for the GMS and advance subregional marketing efforts.