This is a colorful account of a 19-day journey along the new or upgraded economic corridors linking members of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Based on conversations with ordinary folk, especially entrepreneurs, these stories show how trade and tourism in particular are burgeoning with improving connectivity between People's Republic of China's Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, Viet Nam, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Thailand and Cambodia.

The 9th Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion Working Group on Human Resource Development was held in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, on 20-21 May 2009.

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.

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.

This brief summarizes how the partnership of the Asian Development Bank and the countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion has been instrumental to the development of the GMS.

This Midterm Review of the 10-year Strategic Framework of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS–SF) (i) assesses whether the GMS–SF is still relevant and appropriate, considering the progress made and the changing regional and global environments; and (ii) puts forward recommendations to improve its overall impact.

This paper outlines the key issues and risks and proposes a framework for ADB's strategic response to HIV and AIDS in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

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.

This publication outlines the GMS Economic Cooperation Program (GMS Program) which was initiated in 1992 with the support of ADB. It aims to promote economic cooperation among Cambodia, People's Republic of China (PRC), Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
The GMS Program covers nine priority sectors: transportation, telecommunications, energy, environment, human resource development, trade, investment, tourism, and agriculture.

The fledgling Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Journal for Development Studies, published under the auspices of the Phnom Penh Plan (PPP) for Development Management, moves a step ahead with the second issue. In what might be considered as "ascending steps," GMS scholarship is moving forward, slowly but surely. The PPP's commitment is to ensure that we continue to make strides towards our goal of bridging the gap between research and capacity building and to propagate the gospel of balanced socioeconomic development in the GMS.