Mr. Raphiphit Phrommanarot, the Director of the Policy and Planning Bureau, was the representative of the Neighboring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (Public Organization) (NEDA) attending the 25th GMS Ministerial Conference from 6th – 8th December 2022 at Pullman Hotel, Luang Prabang. The main agenda was “hastening the economic recovery for the further success of the 30th successful year of GMS’s plans to complete and sustainable developments.” The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) hosted the conference with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Ministers for Economic Cooperation Plans from the six countries in Gret Mekong Sub-Region (GMS Ministers) attended the conference. The other attendants were development partners such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),
the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA Laos), the Mekong Institute (MI), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the World Bank (WB).
On this occasion, Mr. Raphiphat presented in the GMS ministerial conference as partner that NEDA focuses on fully supporting the infrastructure developments under the GMS’s plans regarding the cross-border transport connectivity and trade facilitation in order to facilitate border trades in the GMS region. NEDA also values urban and rural developments in order to improve the qualities of the lives of the people in the neighboring countries. The numbers of the transportations and services are significantly increased in the GMS region. Hence, NEDA focuses on the GMS cross-border transport agreement (GMS CBTA) by suggesting the GMS members to enforce the GMS CBTA as soon as possible.
