GMS Contents

The Twelfth Meeting of the Subregional Transport Forum (STF-12) was held in Da Nang City, Viet Nam on 12-14 August 2008. The Meeting was jointly organized by the Ministry of Transport of Viet Nam and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The objective of the Meeting was to discuss recent developments, key issues, and future plans in the GMS transport sector, with particular focus on maximizing the development impact of the network and on the problems that remain as regards the conduct of transport and trade operations along the GMS economic corridors and possible ways of addressing them.

The PWG-6 meeting will revisit/ review the results and accomplishments under the regional technical assistance project (RETA) 6304 (Regional Power Trade Coordination and Development), particularly in the areas of training, database/ website development, master plan study, and studies on performance standards and transmission regulation.

In this issue of the Journal of Greater Mekong Subregion Development Studies, we feature five articles that concern some of the more pressing issues of cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) - trade facilitation and trade logistics, the trade impact of cross-border transport infrastructure, tourism corridor development, and biofuels and rural renewable energy. The diversity of the topics tackled in this volume reflects the multifaceted challenges of regional cooperation.

The SEF-2 meeting will discuss the medium term (2008-2015) road map for expanded GMS energy cooperation and will consider the proposed work plan for realizing the road map, after a careful assessment of the priority activities and timetable of the work plan. The first SEF meeting held in Bangkok in December 2004, agreed to establish the SEF to oversee the expansion of cooperation to other energy sub-sectors per the request of the GMS countries.

The Fifth Meeting of the GMS Working Group on Agriculture was held in Vientiane, the Lao People's Democratic Republic on 22-24 September 2008.

The Twelfth Meeting of the Subregional Transport Forum (STF-12) was held in Da Nang City, Viet Nam on 12-14 August 2008. The Meeting was jointly organized by the Ministry of Transport of Viet Nam and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The objective of the Meeting was to discuss recent developments, key issues, and future plans in the GMS transport sector, with particular focus on maximizing the development impact of the network and on the problems that remain as regards the conduct of transport and trade operations along the GMS economic corridors and possible ways of addressing them.

This is the summary of proceedings from the 14th Annual Meeting of the GMS Working Group on Environment (WGE AM14) held on 2 July 2008 in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR.

At the core of the Mekong region are the 320 million people who share a common culture and are nourished by the same great river. More connected than ever before, lives are changing as the meaning of community expands beyond borders. The photographs in My Mekong take us into the heart of that community, as seen through the eyes of its young people.

The PWG-5 meeting was held to: (i) decide on chairmanship for the PWG and FG, and firm up the system for rotation and tenure of chairmanship; (ii) update on and advance the progress of priority RPTCC studies and activities, such as the studies on performance standards and transmission regulation, training programs, and the power sector database and website; (iii) provide updates of each GMS country's power generation and transmission development plans; (iv) discuss priority GMS interconnections for ADB support and other priority projects in the master plan and their relation to country powe

The Second GMS Environment Ministers Meeting (EMM-2) was held in Don Chan Palace Hotel in Vientiane, Lao PDR on 29 January 2008. The overall theme of the meeting was “Sustainable Natural Resource Use for Economic Competitiveness.”

The meeting took stock of achievements of the GMS Core Environment Program (CEP) since its inception last April 2006 and discussed emerging environment, conservation and poverty reduction issues such as climate change, global warming and their effects on socio-economic growth and development.