GMS countries endorse 2nd 5-year environmental cooperation

PM Hun Senshows the opening ceremony of the 3rd GMS Environment Ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Jul 28, 2011 (Photo: Quoc Viet/RFA)

PHNOM PENH, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The ministers of environment of the six Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries on Thursday endorsed the regional action plan 2012-2016 for environment cooperation to ensure balanced and sustainable economic growth, according to a joint ministerial statement.

The second five-year strategic plan on the Core Environment Program and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (CEP- BCI) in the GMS countries will mainly focus on environmental planning systems, methods and safeguards; management of trans- boundary biodiversity conservation landscapes and local livelihoods; climate resilient investments and low carbon strategies; and institutions and financing for sustainable environmental management.

"We expect that our efforts through the CEP-BCI 2012-2016 will further strengthen institutional and human resource capacity which is key to achieving our vision of a poverty free and ecologically rich in GMS," said the statement after the third GMS environment ministers' meeting.

"We encourage the development of a green, inclusive, and balanced economy in the GMS countries," it said. "We welcome the investments in agriculture, energy, tourism, transport sectors."

Cambodian Minister of Environment Mok Mareth said the GMS environment ministers are proposing around 26.5 million U.S. dollars to implement the second phase action plan.

"The plan is to protect and conserve our ecosystems and biodiversity in the GMS countries," he said. "It is also to ensure the sustainability of each country's economic development."

The GMS countries consist of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.