On the morning of March 31, 2008, the third Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit was held in Don Chan Palace Hotel of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The summit will review the major achievements and experience of economic cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion over the past 15 years and outline the priorities and plan of actions on the GMS economic cooperation in the next 5 years.

Focusing on the theme of "Enhancing Competitiveness through Greater Connectivity", leaders of the six GMS countries and President of Asian Development Bank (ADB) will exchange opinions on strengthening infrastructure interconnection, trade and transport facilitation, building partnership, promoting economic and trade investment, developing human resources, increasing competitiveness, sustainable environmental management, subregional cooperation and pushing forward the partnership.

Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh hosted the opening ceremony. Speaking at the meeting, he noted that the summit is held at the important moment of enhancing cooperation and development in the GMS. Over the past 15 years, countries in the subregion have made substantive achievements of development and integration and played positive roles of promoting the economic progress.

A number of infrastructure construction projects of economic corridors in the GMS have been completed and put into operation, including those linking east and west, north and south, which have greatly advanced the integration of GMS countries, especially their economic, trade and public transport cooperation. The total export volume of countries in the GMS has grown 18-fold and each year the number of tourists and direct investment in the subregion doubled over the past 15 years, said Bouasone.

He also raised specific suggestions on stepping up the cooperation on energy and transport infrastructure, environmental protection and facilitation of cross-border transport of goods and people and called on private companies to actively participate in the economic cooperation in the subregion so as to push forward the economic progress.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda attended the summit. Premier Wen will comprehensively expound China's proposition on the economic cooperation and future development in the GMS and initiatives on infrastructure, trade and transport facilitation, health and human resources development.

The GMS economic cooperation mechanism was formed in 1992 with China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam as members. The purpose of the mechanism is to strengthen economic ties, eradicate poverty and promote development.