Cambodia announces outcomes of the 9th ACMECS, 10th CLMV, 11th CLV meetings

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on December 9 issued a press release regarding the outcomes of the 9th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit, the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit, and the 11th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Summit on Development Triangle Area held via video conferences earlier the same day.

At the 9th ACMECS Summit held under the theme "Partnership for Connectivity and Resilience", ACMECS leaders reaffirmed their strong commitment to fully capitalise the enormous economic potential of the sub region as well as to chart out the path for future cooperation for a more connected, smart, sustainable, and resilient ACMECS community, based on the spirit of good neighbourliness and traditional friendship to achieve peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.

The leaders commended Cambodia's chairmanship in the past two years in advancing the shared goals of member countries in realising prosperity and wellbeing for peoples, amidst the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other non-traditional security issues. 

In combating COVID-19, they agreed to reinforce the ongoing national efforts and to strengthen cooperation within ASEAN-led mechanisms, with external partners and international organisations, especially the World Health Organisation (WHO), to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines will become public goods and that essential medical services will be available, accessible, and affordable for all.

On socio-economic recovery, they discussed the collaborative means and principles on which member countries can safely and securely promote multi-dimensional connectivity, and address setbacks caused by the COVID-19 on the mobility and global value chains, while ensuring adequate social protection for all the people affected.

On the future direction, the leaders underlined the importance of effective and sustainable cooperation among member countries and ACMECS development partners, in which Japan offered to host the ACMECS Special Summit in 2021 on the margin of the 13th Mekong-Japan Summit, and looked forward to the operational mechanism of the ACMECS Development Fund as well as the effective functioning of the ACMECS coordinating committees to accelerate the implementation of key priority projects in line with the ACMECS Master Plan.

The leaders concluded the summit by adopting the Phnom Penh Declaration of the 9th ACMECS Summit, which has three documents as its annexes, namely terms of reference of the ACMECS Development Fund, Concept paper on working mechanism for ACMECS Coordinating Committees under ACMECS Master Plan (2019-2023,) and list of ACMECS prioritised projects.

At the 10th CLMV Summit, leaders reiterated the importance of CLMV cooperation in bridging the development gap within ASEAN, ensuring peace, stability, prosperity, and improved livelihoods for the people in the region, as well as constituting a crucial element in the multilateral efforts to combat and fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addressing the future challenges, they stressed the importance of the 2021-2022 CLMV Action Plan endorsed by the CLMV Economic Ministers on August 24, which specifies clear directions in trade and investment cooperation, human resources development, implementation of regional commitments, COVID-19 recovery, and a framework for transforming the sub-region into an Advanced Global Business Hub.

Leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at the 11th CLV Summit expressed their firm commitment to strengthen the CLV Development Triangle Area with a view to accelerate economic growth, alleviate poverty, and promote socio-cultural progress by capitalising on each member country's potentials, strengths, and resources./.