HANOI: The leaders of six countries along the Mekong River on Saturday adopted an ambitious investment plan worth $66 billion over the next five years.
At least $7 billion will come from the Asian Development Bank and the rest from governments and the private sector.
The plan was adopted at a summit in Vietnam that included the prime ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as a vice president of Myanmar and the Chinese foreign minister.
The Greater Mekong Sub-regional (GMS) economic cooperation program was initiated by the ADB in 1992 and has since mobilized $21 billion, with the bulk going to infrastructure projects.
“GMS is starting a new era of development with unprecedented opportunities and challenges which require us to have a creative approach with long term and comprehensive vision in order to tap into the internal power of each country while effectively promoting connectivity to create strength resonance across the GMS for rapid economic growth and harmonizing economic and social development with environmental protection,” Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his opening remarks.
The five countries along with China’s Yunnan province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region with a population of 340 million and combined GDP of $1.3 trillion have recorded one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Closing the one-day summit, Phuc said cooperation will remain the driving force in the region’s development.
“I believe that given the results we have realized as well as our solidarity and determination, GMS cooperation will continue to be part of the cooperation mechanism of the region and will make a concrete contribution to the economic and social development of member countries, promote sustainable development and reinforce the peaceful and stable environment in the region,” he said.
In the meantime, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the world’s second-biggest economy supports “the multilateral trading system and promotes an open, inclusive and balanced economic globalization that benefits all.”
“China has long been an advocate of an open world economy. China is committed to win-win cooperation in opening up and firmly opposes trade protectionism,” Wang said. “Protectionism harms others without benefiting oneself — it is a one-way street that leads to nowhere. The right approach to address trade disputes is to conduct consultation in line with international rules and as equals.”
President Donald Trump’s move last week to impose tariffs on as much as $60 billion on Chinese goods prompted Beijing to consider imposing tariffs on a number of American goods exported to the country.
Mekong countries’ leaders call for $66 billion investment
Mekong countries’ leaders call for $66 billion investment
Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals
- The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals
LONDON: Countries need to collaborate on mining and resources to help avoid geopolitical tensions, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
“The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals, the concentration in different areas of the world,” Bandar Alkhorayef told a panel discussion on the geopolitics of materials.
“The rational thing to do is to collaborate, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are creating a platform of collaboration in Saudi Arabia.”
The Kingdom last week hosted the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Alkhorayef said the platform was launched by the government in 2022 as a contribution to the global community. “It’s very important to have a global movement, and that’s why we launched the Future Minerals Forum,” he said. “It is the most important platform of global mining leaders.”
The Kingdom has made mining one of the key pillars of its economy, rapidly expanding the sector under the Vision 2030 reform program with an eye on diversification. Saudi Arabia has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth and the ramping up of extraction comes at a time of intense global competition for resources to drive technological development in areas like AI and renewables.
“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow to diversify,” Alkhorayef said. The Kingdom has worked to reduce the timelines required to set up mines while also protecting local communities, he added. Obtaining mining permits in Saudi Arabia has been reduced to just 30 to 90 days compared to the many years required in other countries, Alkhorayef said.
“We learned very, very early that permitting is a bottleneck in the system,” he added. “We all know, and we have to be very, very frank about this, that mining doesn’t have a good reputation globally.
“We are trying to change this and cutting down the licensing process doesn’t only solve it. You need also to show the communities the impact of the mining on their lives.”
Saudi Arabia’s new mining investment laws have placed great emphasis on the development of society and local communities, along with protecting the environment and incorporating new technologies, Alkhorayef said. “We want to build the future mines; we don’t want to build old mines.”
