The eighth Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Summit in the Lao capital city Vientiane issued a joint statement on November 25, reiterating their commitment to further deepening the comprehensive cooperation among the three countries on the basis of their traditional friendship, solidarity, cooperation and good neighbourliness.

In the joint statement, the heads of the three governments affirmed their intention to work more closely to narrow the development gap among member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the effective and timely establishment of the ASEAN Community.

The leaders re-affirmed the importance of maintaining security, safety and a stable environment for investors and residents in the Development Triangle through stronger partnership to fight the trafficking of human and drugs as well as cross-border crimes, and to remove mines and unexploded ordnance left by the war.

They agreed to continue implementing bilateral and multilateral agreements on the movement of people and goods in the Development Triangle, specifically the Cross-Border Transport Agreement (CBTA) in the framework of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). They took note with pleasure the progress in preparing for the full operation of the One stop shop model at the Densavan-Lao Bao international border gate on the Laos-Vietnam border by early 2015, which will serve as a model for other border gates in the region.

The leaders assigned agricultural ministers of CLV countries to complete the report on a joint development master plan for the rubber industry of the three countries, to be submitted to the 10th meeting of the CLV Joint Coordination Committee for consideration.

The leaders also confirmed their commitment to environment protection and the effective use and management of natural resources towards the goal of sustainable development of each nation and the Development Triangle as a whole. They urged local governments and relevant agencies to contribute their suggestions in this field to the regional cooperation plans in order to develop joint programmes in such domains as land management, hydro-meteorology, climate change, water resource management and geology.

They assigned the CLV Joint Coordination Committee to continue working on the amendment of special preferential treatments to improve the investment and business environment in the Development Triangle. The committee is also to build a tourism development plan for the region, to be submitted to the 9th CLV Summit.

The leaders vowed to promote connectivity in terms of infrastructure, institutions and human among the three countries.

They expressed thanks to Japan and other development partners and international financial organisations for their constant contribution to socio-economic development in the CLV Development Triangle, and put forward a list of priority projects in the triangle to call for financial and technical support from the partners.

The 9th CLV Development Triangle Summit will be held in Cambodia in 2016.

VNA/VNN