Thailand offered to help build a road for its neighboring rival Burma at a key regional conference Wednesday, a sign that enmities and trade blockades are giving way to cooperation as the region seeks benefits from freer trade.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intrawityanunt said his government was “committed to providing financial cooperation to [Burma]” for the Burma part of an “East-West Corridor” designed to provide a link between Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. He did not provide details on funding amounts.
Thailand ultimately stands to benefit from trade spurred by the road, but observers applauded the announcement, made on the final day of the Ministerial Meeting of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region.
“We are very encouraged to see the increasing trend of GMS countries assisting each other in the context of the GMS program,” said A Barend Frielink, a program officer at the Asia Development Bank, which organizes the GMS gatherings. The GMS includes Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma and China.
Multilaterals like the ADB and many potential donors refuse to give aid to impoverished Burma, citing its repressive regime.
The Thai minister also urged Burma to sign the GMS Agreement on Cross Border Movement of Goods and People “as soon as possible.” Burma is the last holdout on the treaty, which would standardize border procedures so that goods can be transported across them without the need to change drivers or vehicles.
China, the only other nation that has not signed the treaty, announced Wednesday that it intended to sign it at November’s first-ever meeting of heads of state on GMS issues. The November GMS meeting will be held a day before the Asean summit in Phnom Penh.
Co-Minister of Interior Sar Kheng boasted in the day’s opening speech that Cambodia has low inflation, a stable currency and a growth rate that has exceeded expectations.
“The Royal Government of Cambodia is strongly committed to the free trade policy and the policy of economic integration to the regional and world economy,” he said.
About $2 billion has been spent in the last decade on GMS programs, which aim to strengthen regional trade and tourism through improvements in roads, telecommunications, human resources and other areas.
