Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday that the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) nations need to consolidate past achievements, widen cooperation areas and raise cooperation levels in order to promote common prosperity.  

Addressing the opening ceremony of the second GMS summit in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Wen put forward several recommendations for stronger GMS economic cooperation.

The premier called on the GMS nations to continue to implement cooperation projects on transport, energy, telecommunications and other sectors, thus laying the groundwork for regional economic and trade cooperation.

He said the concerned nations need to speed up the negotiation on the annexes and protocols of the GMS Cross-border Transport Agreement, faithfully implement the GMS Strategic Framework for Action on Trade Facilitation and Investment, and promote interactions between GMS trade and investment facilitation.

He announced in his speech that China has decided to individually expand the range of products eligible for preferential tariff from the Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar as of January 1, 2006, with an aim to raise the level of intra-regional trade cooperation.

The premier called for more endeavor to broaden exchanges and cooperation on agricultural technologies and information, accelerate the building of agricultural information websites, and convene a GMS agriculture ministers' meeting in due course to develop modern agriculture.

All GMS countries should make rational planning for sound resource development and better eco-system planning and environmental protection, thereby taking the road of sustainable development, Wen said. 

He urged information sharing and law-enforcement cooperation on the conservation of natural resources and the environment as well as implementation of the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative.

Cooperation should be intensified on the prevention and control of avian flu, HIV/AIDS and other major communicable diseases, Wen said. He suggested the GMS nations set up surveillance networks for such diseases, improve information transparency on disease situation, and conduct joint prevention and control.

To this end, China proposed to establish a GMS Health Forum to coordinate and promote health cooperation, Wen said.

More efforts should go to human resources training in multiple forms on medical care, health, education, culture and other subjects, he said.

The Chinese side will continue to give financial support within its capacity to the subregional cooperation, pledged Wen.

He also expressed the hope that all development partners would provide more assistance for GMS cooperation from a long-term perspective.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2005)