2008年9月
Abstract:
Following a brief survey of the various economic cooperation programs and initiatives in which
countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) - particularly Cambodia, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam (CLMV) - are engaged, this paper examines the
extent to which GMS economies have converged and become integrated, among themselves but
also with other ASEAN countries. Preliminary evidence of stakeholders’ involvement in selected
subregional cooperation initiatives is also presented.
Although all GMS countries have experienced rapid growth over the past 15 years, no evidence is
found that participation of CLMV in subregional cooperation and integration initiatives has led to a
narrowing of the gap between the least and most developed GMS and ASEAN countries. While
significant progress has been made in reducing poverty, within-country inequality also increased
during that period. In addition, while intra-GMS and intra-ASEAN trade both increased, trade of
Cambodia and Lao PDR with other GMS or ASEAN countries remain small.
If the various subregional and regional cooperation frameworks are to significantly reduce the
development gap among members, activities more directly aimed at this objective may need to be
emphasized. Re-thinking institutional arrangements for regional cooperation at both the national
and subregional/regional levels may be considered in order to facilitate participation of a more
representative set of stakeholders in the prioritization of activities and to ensure synergies between
the various initiatives can be captured.