Senior economic officials from Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) held a conference in Hanoi on March 7 to discuss initiatives and solutions to bridge the development gap between the four countries and other ASEAN members.

The conference, the fifth of its kind, took place within the framework of the 9 th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting.

Conference Chairman Aung Naing Oo, who is Head of the Myanmar delegation, said that due to the low level of CLMV development relative to other ASEAN countries, reducing the gap is a constant challenge to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

The meeting focused on evaluating the results of the projects that Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam had carried out to narrow the development gap between the four countries and other ASEAN members.

The officials agreed to promote the implementation of the projects within the framework of the Initiative for ASEAN Economic Integration (IAI) supported by the remaining six ASEAN members and some developed countries, focusing on developing infrastructure, transport, technology and communication, human resources, poverty reduction and tourism promotion in CLMV countries.

The 6 th CLMV conference will be held in Laos at the end of 2013.
More than 200 projects are being carried out to promote the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, including the reduction of the gap between CLMV and other ASEAN members. The projects have received support from ASEAN’s partners such as Japan , China , the EU and the US .

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) comprises of 10 member countries, including Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.-VNA