GMS in the News

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a grant of $1.3 million to advance disaster risk management in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through technical assistance (TA). The TA will support the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response Work Programme, 2021–2025, which will strengthen regional cooperation on understanding, reducing, and managing transboundary risks.

ADB’s $1.5 billion CARES Program for Thailand provides budget support for the government’s COVID-19 response.

The Asian Development Bank, in partnership with the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, is organizing a virtual Greater Mekong Subregion meeting entitled, “One Health in the GMS: Where are we now and where next?” on 3 June 2021 via video conferencing.  

Southeast Asian countries can benefit from investments in green infrastructure, digital transformation, big data, and revenue mobilization through tax reform as the region recovers from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa at the second Southeast Asia Development Symposium.

The region’s success with decades of growth and poverty reduction is due in large part to the international movement of trade, capital, people, knowledge, and resources – not only within the region but with the rest of the world. This type of regional cooperation is also a powerful tool in addressing the pandemic.

Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam (CLV) Leaders expressed their firm commitment to strengthen the CLV Development Triangle Area (DTA) in order to accelerate economic growth, alleviate poverty, and promote socio-cultural progress in the subregion. At the 11th CLV Summit held online on 9 December, they adopted a Joint Declaration that provides a foundation for the subregion’s socio-economic development plan until 2030 and the Tourism Development Plan. They also adopted the Development Plan for Sustainable Rubber Industry.