Services account for a significant share of the subregion’s GDP, ranging from 25.7% in the Lao People's Democratic Republic to 39.1% in Cambodia and 46.0% in Thailand

This training material aims to strengthen officials' and experts' understanding of the trade barriers that affect trade in goods and the economic determinants of such trade; proposals made in different forums to reform border policies affecting trade in goods and the analysis of those proposals, with a particular focus on the strategic questions raised by regional trade agreements; and particular challenges facing trade policy makers in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

Flagship study that analyzes major challenges in developing regional infrastructure, particularly transport and energy through regional cooperation towards a seamless Asia.

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.

Human resource development, with its potential to enhance competitiveness, increase returns on physical connectivity, and build a sense of community, is one of the five strategic areas of cooperation under the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program.

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.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (13 November 2007) - The Asian Development Bank will manage a $500,000 technical assistance grant funded by the People's Republic of China to help countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion develop results-based monitoring and evaluation systems used in assessing efforts to reduce poverty.

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.