6 nations adopt investment plan

HANOI, Vietnam — 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 Burma and the Chinese foreign minister.

The Greater Mekong Sub-regional economic cooperation program was initiated by the bank 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, using an acronym for the program.

The five countries, along with China’s Yunnan province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, have a population of 340 million and combined GDP of $1.3 trillion, and have recorded one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.