Leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam agreed yesterday to "redouble" efforts to reform and integrate their formerly socialist economies by promoting private sector participation and facilitating trade and development in the sub-region.
Meeting in the capital of Laos, which is hosting the 10th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday and Tuesday, the four leaders signed a Vientiane Declaration on enhancing economic cooperation and integration between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the economic laggards in the 10-country grouping.
The average per capita income in the four least developed ASEAN countries is US$250 per annum, compared with US$1,600 in the remaining six.
The four countries, acknowledged the growing gap between their economies and the six original ASEAN members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- and agreed to "redouble efforts to attain regional economic development through the implementation and our commitment to reform," according to the Vientiane Declaration.
Among other things, the leaders vowed to promote the greater role of the private sector in their economies, enhance market access to their markets for their ASEAN neighbors and three East Asian partners -- China, Japan and South Korea -- and to explore a single visa for the sub-region.
The Vientiane Declaration was signed by Hun Sen, Bounnhang Vorachith, Lieutenant General Soe Win and Phan Van Khai, the prime ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The declaration spells out areas of accelerated cooperation between the four formerly socialist economies in trade, agriculture, transportation, industry, tourism and telecommunications.
For instance in transport, it vowed to "facilitate transit shipment of goods," a crucial clause for land-locked Laos.
Container shipments from Vientiane through Thailand to Bangkok port cost about US$1,200, higher than the US$800 it costs to ship a container from Bangkok to Japan and the US$300 for a container from Bangkok to Perth, according to business sources in Vientiane.
Laos could theoretically save costs by shipping via Vietnam.
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam -- called "Indochina" by French colonialists -- were classic communist economies until the late 1980s when the former Soviet Union, their chief donor, collapsed.
Myanmar renounced its "Burmese road to socialism" in 1988, following nationwide protests against military rule and economic collapse in the country, which was declared one of the worlds least developed nations in 1987.
Since the late 1980s all four countries have had to implement market-oriented reforms, inviting investments from former foes and promoting exports to the West and democratic Asian countries.
Vietnam joined ASEAN, established in 1967 to counter the spread of communism in the region, in 1995. Laos and Myanmar joined in 1997 and Cambodia finally joined the grouping in 1999.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not