Premier Wen
Jiabao, at the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) forum on business
participation in Kunming on Monday, said the government attaches
importance to the role of the private sector in regional
cooperation and hopes it will make a greater contribution to common
progress.
Wen said GMS cooperation has deepened and become fruitful in recent
years, improving the trade and investment environment, so business
communities in the region have more opportunities for economic
activities.
Strengthening relations between government and business is
important in achieving common prosperity in the subregion, he
said.
Wen said the government has increased transparency and openness of
laws and policies, facilitated the entry and exit of personnel and
commodities, and provided domestic enterprises with good services
to help them in international economic cooperation.
Infrastructure construction should remain the focus of GMS
cooperation though great progress has been made in this respect,
Wen said.
On telecommunications, Wen proposed enhancing development in rural
areas, promoting human resources development and strengthening
exchange between GMS nations.
The forum is a part of the ongoing second GMS Economic Cooperation
summit, and the participants include the prime ministers of Laos,
Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Haruhiko
Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The leaders of the other five GMS members also encouraged
businesses to participate in regional cooperation, proposing to
strengthen partnerships between public and private sectors and
financial organs like the ADB to create a fairer and more
facilitative environment.
More than 300 people from GMS businesses participated in the
event.
The GMS cooperation mechanism, initiated in 1992 by the ADB,
involves Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. It
aims to promote development around the Mekong River (known as the
Lancang River in China) and international cooperation in the
region.
(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2005)