18 July

Deputy Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Bharat Singh yesterday attended a Joint Session of the 13th Mekong-Japan Industry and Government Dialogue and the 1st Meeting of 2020 ASEAN Economic Ministers-METI Economic and Industrial Cooperation Committee (AMEICC) Working Group on West-East Corridor Development (WEC-WG) via videoconference.

The meeting was co-chaired by Mr Saksayam Chidchob, Thailand’s Minister for Transport, and Mr Shigehiro Tanaka, Japan’s Vice Minister for International Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The meeting was attended by Deputy Ministers from Mekong countries, industry representatives, Development Partners and representatives from both the AMEICC Secretariat and ASEAN Secretariat office.

During the meeting, Japan emphasized the importance of Mekong Industrial Development Vision (MIDV) 2.0 in sustaining more resilient economic growth aligned with an active response to mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 and outlined a way forward including the further development of a dedicated work programme. Deputy Ministers from Mekong countries then presented updates regarding their MIDV 2.0. aligned prioritized sub-pillars and projects.

Myanmar’s Deputy Minister presented Myanmar’s three prioritized projects, including a proposed feasibility study for upgrading both railways and roads along the Myanmar-Thai border to enable greater trade and investment facilitation throughout the Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS). The Deputy Minister also proposed a standardization programme which would foster greater competitiveness of Myanmar’s micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), currently facing a range of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, via training, technical know-how transfer, capacity building and related workshops and seminars.

Foreign Economic Relations Department Director-General and other senior officials from Directorate of Industrial Collaboration, Myanma Railways, and Road Management Department, supported the Deputy Minister’s participation in the meeting.—MNA