As an impact of the ongoing El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, severe drought and salinity intrusion has been occurring in Mekong River Delta (MRD) of Vietnam and has caused varying degrees of damage to agriculture, fisheries and the livelihoods of people in the region. On 15 March 2016, the Vietnamese government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a meeting with donors, international organizations and other partners to discuss joint efforts for drought response and recovery.
Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure Project in Northern Viet Nam Successfully Promotes Application of Bioengineering Techniques
This report puts together the findings of the assessment of country components of the Greater Mekong Subregion economic corridors. Along with six country reports, the integrative report was prepared by a study team led by the Asian Development Bank, which serves as the GMS Secretariat.
The main focus of agricultural trade facilitation is on the procedures that such trade undergoes in moving from the country of origin to the country of destination. Many, if not most of these procedures, are bureaucratic in nature involving papers and documents required for the traded products to be cleared and released to consignee (or loaded on the transport facility in case of exports). This follows the general meaning of trade facilitation as defined by the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as “…simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures that include activities, practices and formalities related to the collection, presentation, communication and processing of data required for the movement of goods…”1 Traditionally, this was confined to the processes and procedures at the borders, but with the expanded and more integrated logistics approach this has encompassed behind-the-border processes and procedures on both the production and consumption sides.
Environment ministers from the six countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) endorsed the Core Environment Program (CEP) Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2018-2022 in Chiang Mai in February 2018. The program, which was launched in 2006 and administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is embarking on its third phase. The new 5-year environment strategy will focus on green technologies and sustainable infrastructure, natural resources and ecosystem services, and climate resilience and disaster risk management. Within each of these priority areas the CEP will support three types of interventions that influence the investment project cycle: investment preparation and financing, knowledge management and technology uptake, and policy and strategic planning. These interventions will leverage the program's competencies on developing and supporting investment projects (such as the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors project, Green Freight Initiative, and Climate Friendly Agri-Business Value Chain).
In 2014, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) decided to launch and finance a research and capacity-building project on economic integration within ASEAN. More specifically, the project was aimed at dealing with the specific problems that the four less prosperous countries of ASEAN (i.e., Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam, collectively known as the CLMV group) would have to cope with in the context of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which was to be fully realized by the end of 2015. The first phase of the project, which was carried out in partnership with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), dealt with reforms in the agriculture sector. The second phase, the results of which are presented in this publication, concentrated on non-tariff measures (NTMs) and geographical indications. This phase was carried out in partnership with researchers from the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) and its secretariat at ESCAP.
Twenty-five years of cooperation under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Program have witnessed the evolving cooperation and partnership among the six countries that share the Mekong River. In 1992, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam established the GMS Economic Cooperation Program and requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for support. It was not until 2002 that the Building on Success: A Strategic Framework for the Next Ten Years of the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program (GMS SF-I) was adopted covering the period 2002–2012. It was succeeded by the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2012–2022 (GMS SF-II), for which a midterm review (MTR) has been conducted. This Ha Noi Action Plan 2018–2022 (HAP) reflects the GMS Program’s agenda for the remaining 5 years of GMS SF-II based on the findings of the MTR, as well as the new thrusts and operational priorities of sector strategies. It builds on past achievements and lessons learned, and charts the way forward to address the emerging development challenges through regional cooperation.
Policy Recommendations for Narrowing the Development Gap in ASEAN