The Lao People’s Democratic Republic can maximize the potential benefits from the Greater Mekong Subregion’s economic corridors through its national policies, capacities, and implementation arrangements.

This energy sector assessment, strategy, and road map documents the current assessment and strategic investment priorities of ADB and the governments of the Greater Mekong Subregion countries in the energy sector.

This issue of the Journal of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Development Studies features five articles of subregional importance spanning the subjects of free trade areas, tourism, and human trafficking.

With increasing fuel demand projected for the Greater Mekong Subregion, biofuels could make a significant contribution to offsetting oil demand and to increased agricultural and rural incomes.

This issue of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Journal of Development Studies features the outputs of four research projects funded by grants under the Research Program of the Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management (PPP).

Trade in food and other agricultural products is increasingly important across East and Southeast Asia, where high-income Asian economies have driven significant agricultural expansion, and the momentous growth of the People's Republic of China (PRC) promises more stimulus to agrofood activity in the region. The PRC is expected to become a net importer of agrofood in the coming decades, which will have significant implications within the region.

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.

This issue of the Journal focuses on the seminal research undertaken by Social Research Institute of Chiang Mai University (SRI-CMU) on the question: How does community-based tourism (CBT) impact on poverty? Five research papers were selected from the SRI-CMU project. The overview article, Tourism: Blessings for All?, by Mingsarn Kaosa-ard, discusses the returns from tourism and how these returns are being shared from a national perspective. The benefits and the potential negative impacts of tourism are weighed.