Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese senior officials gather in Dak Nong

Dak Nong (VNA) – The 11th Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area opened in Gia Nghia town, the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong on November 1.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong, Secretary of State at Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce Mao Thora and Lao Deputy Foreign Minister Thongphane Savanphet.

At the meeting, the heads of the three countries’ SOM delegations highly valued outcomes of meetings of the four sub-committees of security and foreign affairs, economy, society and environment, and local cooperation, which took place on October 31.

They reviewed cooperation between the three countries since the eight SOM in 2014 and the 10th Meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee on CLV Development Triangle Area last year.

The 11 th SOM highlighted results of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on special preferential policies reached by the three countries and the adjusted Socio-Economic Development Master Plan for the Development Triangle Area by 2020.

The meeting called on relevant ministries, agencies and localities of the countries to continue realising the documents with specific activities and programmes.

It spoke highly of the support of development partners, especially Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to the area over the years, and suggested each of the three countries prepare five new projects to be submitted to the ninth CLV Summit scheduled for late 2016 in Cambodia.

The participants also appreciated efforts of Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese specialists in negotiations for the Trade Promotion and Facilitation Agreement in the CLV Development Triangle Area, with the fifth round of talks already done.

The heads of the SOM delegations proposed the countries’ working groups promptly complete its contents in order to approve the deal as soon as possible.

A Vietnamese representative delivered a draft report on the project on economic connectivity between the three countries, which will be presented to the ninth CLV Summit for the three Prime Ministers’ approval.

The officials also agreed to submit a report on the implementation of the CLV Development Triangle’s website to the PMs at the ninth CLV Summit, and assign the working groups to upgrade the website.

After scrutinising a draft report of the joint coordination committee, they consented to present the document to the upcoming summit.

Vietnam will host 11th Meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee on CLV Development Triangle Area and related activities in 2017. The date and venue of the event will be informed to Cambodia and Laos via the diplomatic channel.-VNA