Japan reaffirms support for Mekong

Tokyo pledges help on many fronts to lift GDP in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. By Somporn Thapanachai in Tokyo

Japan has promised to continue investing effort and support to help three countries in the Mekong region - Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia - achieve US$1,000 per-capita GDP within the next decade, according to Masahiko Koumura, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Under the Japan-Mekong Region Partnership Programme, Tokyo said it would support the fundamental values of people in the region such as democracy and the rule of law, the integration of the regional economy, and fostering of collaboration, as well as the expansion of trade and investment between Japan and the Mekong region.

On the fundamental values front, Mr Koumura elaborated that Japan would like to help find ways to overcome poverty and address issues of infectious diseases and environmental problems.

He urged the private sector to work actively to promote trade and investment in these countries while the Japanese government would enhance the safety of investment activity through bilateral investment agreements with Cambodia and Laos. Japan aims to convey its own experience in areas such as cross-border transit and customs procedures.

"Stimulating growth in the Mekong region, a late starter within Asean, will be of direct benefit to Asean as a whole, and in turn will benefit Japan itself, given its strong ties with Asean in the political, economic and cultural spheres," says Mr Koumura.

Based on a regional fact sheet of world development indicators 2008 compiled by the World Bank, the gross national income per capita of Vietnam is estimated at $700, $500 in Laos and $490 in Cambodia.

"Stimulating growth in the Mekong region, a late starter within Asean, will be of direct benefit to Asean as a whole, and in turn will benefit Japan itself, given its strong ties with Asean in the political, economic and cultural spheres," Mr Koumura told the audience at the recent Future of Asia conference organised by Nikkei.

Greater inflows of goods, people and capital from Thailand in the south and from China in the north are possible to Laos and Cambodia as wages in the two countries are around one-fifth of the level in Thailand.

Flows are also being helped by the substantial scope of improvement in transport networks and know-how in cross-border transit.

"In my view, the day on which these countries attain the $1,000 level, led by Vietnam and followed by Laos and Cambodia, will come within 10 years through their own efforts and support from Japan and other countries outside the region, especially the support of Asean as a whole," Mr Koumura said.

Japan has already taken steps to strengthen its relationship with the region by hosting the first Japan-Mekong Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo in January, attended by ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Thailand.

However, China already has a greater role in the region through its joint co-operation with Asian Development Bank and the Thai government for the investment to construct the road from Yunnan province to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. The Chinese government has also expressed its intention to support the north-south railway network from Kunming to Singapore.

Mr Koumura said these projects offered tremendous potential for infrastructure in the region to be transformed over the next 10 years. The Chinese investment is an example of a win-win situation as it would benefit people of the region and also everybody else.

Japan has also declared the goal of making the Mekong region a "region of hope and development" through its Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the completion of the second Mekong Friendship Bridge linking Thailand and Laos. The Japanese government plans to provide $20 million to facilitate goods distribution across this east-west corridor and another $20 million for a "development triangle" on the borders of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

In respect to the development of the Mekong region, Japanese and Chinese foreign-policy officials have opened a dialogue on the countries' policies for the Mekong to co-ordinate policies and share information on a regular basis.