Laos hosts 2nd Vice Foreign Ministers'Meeting

(KPL) On May 15-16 the Lao PDR hosted the 2nd Vice Foreign Ministers'Meeting on the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) in Savannakhet province.

The event was chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bounkeut Sangsomsak and was attended by Vice Foreign Ministers and delegation from Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. Present at the gathering were also leaders of Vietnamese, Lao and Thai provinces sharing the corridor, and representatives from the Japanese Embassy in Laos, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asia Development Bank (ADB).

The corridor now runs from Sabang port in Bangkok, Thailand, through Vientiane and on to Hanoi and Haiphong in Vietnam. The event focused on reviewing the implementation of tasks and measures issued during the first meeting in Vietnam’s central Quang Tri province last year, and discussing cooperation strategies for the coming time.

Progress has been recognized in building EWEC infrastructure, to facilitate goods transport along the corridor, implementing the "one door - one stop"model at Lao Bao-Densavanh and Savannakhet-Mukdahan border gates, and boosting cooperation among localities along the corridor.

Moreover, the meeting clarified difficulties and challenges that the countries need to jointly handle, particularly in approving and fully carrying out the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cross-Border Transport Agreement.

The meeting adopted two documents: the Savannakhet Declaration on the Process of the East-West Economic Corridor Development and the meeting's joint Statement on the Eas-West Economic Corridor Development. The 3rd Vice Foreign Ministers'Meeting on EWEC will be held in Thailand next year.

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