Jin Liqun, new vice president of the ADB, said GMS, a programme
initiated in 1992 and co-ordinated by the bank, is to hold its 12th Ministerial
Conference Friday in Dali, a picturesque and quaint town in Southwest China's Yunnan
Province.
GMS covers the countries through which the Lancang River (called Mekong
outside of China) flows. They include Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand
and Viet Nam.
The programme is designed to build closer economic ties among the six
countries, including social projects like cross border epidemic disease control.
GMS is gaining increasing stature for its achievements, Chinese officials
said, and they intend to make it a model programme for forming a free trade area
between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"A major mission of GMS is to alleviate poverty in the region. China has been
very active in poverty reduction and we can contribute in that regard,'' said
Jin in an interview.
"China also has rich experiences, and lessons in infrastructure development,
environmental protection and foreign investment administration, which we can all
share in GMS.''
Jin, 54, took his new office in August. Before that, he was China's vice
finance minister.
"I should have a new perspective as the vice president of ADB. But I will try
my best to contribute on the basis of my experiences in the Ministry of Finance
and the World Bank in the past 23 years,'' he said. Jin joined the ministry in
1980. During 1988-92, he served as China's alternate executive director in the
World Bank.
In addition to economic benefits, Jin said GMS programme has helped enhance
mutual trust and better relations among participating nations.
GSM held its first summit meeting last year in Cambodia. "The meeting
signalled the countries' top leaders' endorsements for the programme," he said.
Since its inception, 11 key programmes have been launched and about 100
investment and technology assistance projects have been implemented. The most
visible results are infrastructure projects such as new or improved roads.
About US$2 billion from various funding channels has been mobilized. The
funds were mainly from ADB loans and loans or donations from other development
agencies. But ADB officials said that public funds are not sufficient to support
the next stage of programme.
Infrastructure projects alone will need US$15-20 billion in the next 10
years.
So the GMS countries have decided to invite the private sector to play a much
more active part in the programme, with this becoming one of the major themes of
the ministerial conference.
Jin said GMS will promote improvement of the public sector to create a better
environment for private companies' participation in the programme. Human
resources development is another key sector for further success of the
programme, he said.
