Senior economic officials from Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam
(CLMV) held a conference in Hanoi on March 7 to discuss initiatives
and solutions to bridge the development gap between the four countries
and other ASEAN members.

The conference, the fifth of its kind, took place within the framework of the 9 th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting.

Conference Chairman Aung Naing Oo, who is Head of the Myanmar
delegation, said that due to the low level of CLMV development relative
to other ASEAN countries, reducing the gap is a constant challenge to
the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

The meeting focused on evaluating the results of the projects that
Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam had carried out to narrow
the development gap between the four countries and other ASEAN members.

The officials agreed to promote the implementation
of the projects within the framework of the Initiative for ASEAN
Economic Integration (IAI) supported by the remaining six ASEAN members
and some developed countries, focusing on developing infrastructure,
transport, technology and communication, human resources, poverty
reduction and tourism promotion in CLMV countries.

The 6 th CLMV conference will be held in Laos at the end of 2013.
More than 200 projects are being carried out to promote the
formation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, including the
reduction of the gap between CLMV and other ASEAN members. The projects
have received support from ASEAN’s partners such as Japan , China ,
the EU and the US .

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian
Nations) comprises of 10 member countries, including Singapore,
Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos,
Cambodia, and Vietnam.-VNA