Senior officials of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam meet in Kratie province of Cambodia on March 9 to prepare for the 12th meeting of the joint Coordination Committee on the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area that will open on March 10. (Photo: VNA)

Senior officials of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam met in Kratie province of Cambodia on March 9 to prepare for the 12th meeting of the joint Coordination Committee on the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (JCC CLV DTA) that will open on March 10.

The meeting drew the attendance of Cambodian Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce Sok Sopheak, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Le Quang Manh, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh, and Lao Deputy Foreign Minister Thongphan Savanphet.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Le Quang Manh said that representatives of the three countries will propose effective measures and practical initiatives to the heads of the three coordination committees at their meeting on Sunday, paving the way for high-level agreements and specific directions to promote the development cooperation in the development triangle.

Currently, cooperation projects in the border areas of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been underway, especially in hydropower, mining and mineral processing, industrial crop planting and processing, he noted.

Experts held that smooth mechanisms and policies have been provided for the investment and trade partnership in the region.

So far, Vietnam has run 49 projects in the development triangle in Cambodia with total capital of US$1.63 billion. The country’s investment in the development triangle in Laos is US$1.97 billion of 67 projects.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s five border provinces in the development triangle have attracted 233 projects from 20 countries and territories with total investment of US$2.3 billion, said Manh.

However, Manh pointed out that transport upgrade and expansion projects in the region have lagged behind the schedule, while the tripartite cooperation has yet to put effective influence on socio-economic development in border localities, along with limited resources for development investment and shortcomings in trade cooperation, tax policies and investment procedures.

The meeting will focus on evaluating the implementation of commitments of ministers of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia at the previous meeting, pointing put difficulties and seeking settlement solutions as well as orientation for cooperation of 13 provinces in the development triangle.