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Vietnam and Mekong Cooperative Mechanisms
- from VIETNAM
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- By To Minh Thu, Director of the Center for Security and Development, Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies in the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam., Le Dinh Tinh, Deputy Director General of the Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.
- Edited by Daljit Singh, Malcolm Cook
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- Book:
- Southeast Asian Affairs 2019
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 07 September 2019
- Print publication:
- 10 April 2019, pp 395-411
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- Chapter
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Summary
Regional cooperation in the Mekong Basin has become increasingly dynamic in recent years with the emergence of new mechanisms and the reshuffling of existing ones. During the 1990s, Mekong cooperative efforts were primarily confined to the riparian countries. However, over the past ten years, as a result of its strategic location and growth potential, the Mekong Basin region has attracted the attention of major powers and developmental partners, including the United States, China, Japan, India and the European Union. The cooperative mechanisms both among riparian countries and with external partners have provided platforms for discussion of regional issues, especially water resource management, economic development and integration into the regional and global markets, regional connectivity, and addressing common challenges.
In 2018, a series of summits related to the Mekong region took place. In January, Cambodia hosted the 2nd Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Summit. In March, Vietnam held the 6th Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area Summit. In April, the 3rd Mekong River Commission Summit took place in Cambodia. This was followed by the 8th Ayeyawady–Chao Phraya–Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit in Thailand in June and the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit in October. In addition, a number of Ministerial-level meetings were held, laying the ground for further cooperation as well as the restructuring of many of the major cooperative frameworks. Vietnam has made significant contributions to the success of these summits, particularly through hosting the GMS Summit and the CLV Development Triangle Area Summit, and its active participation in others. This chapter will review the development of these major cooperative frameworks in the Mekong Basin and Vietnam's proactive and comprehensive approach to these mechanisms, including the newly established MLC framework.
Diversity and Mixture of Cooperative Mechanisms
At present there exist more than ten cooperative mechanisms in the Mekong Basin Region. Some involve only the riparian countries while others are between the countries along the Mekong and its external partners. The following section briefly explains the formation and recent development of these mechanisms.
Cooperative Mechanisms between Riparian Countries
The Mekong River Commission (MRC): In April 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signed “The Mekong Agreement for Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin”, which established the Mekong River Commission.
8 - ASEAN–Korea Co-operation in the Development of New ASEAN Members
- from PART IV - ASEAN–KOREA CO-OPERATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ASEAN MEMBERS
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- By Le Dinh Tinh, University of Hawaii
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- Book:
- ASEAN-Korea Relations
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 21 October 2015
- Print publication:
- 14 February 2007, pp 103-110
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
The fact that the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) officially became Dialogue Partners at the Twenty- fourth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Kuala Lumpur in July 1991 did not surprise regional commentators. It had been widely known that no effort was spared to gear this bilateral relationship onto higher planes. Many researchers, including Kwon Yul, state that this relationship has witnessed consistent growth over the past four decades. It should also be noted that this success “largely derives from the complementarities between both sides”.
There are undoubtedly common interests and potentials for further development between Korea and ASEAN. More importantly, Korea–ASEAN co-operation has led to the adoption of an inclusive approach, which attaches importance to the development of the new members of ASEAN, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV for short). This chapter argues that such an approach is not only beneficial to the new members of ASEAN, the other ASEAN members, and Korea, but also East Asia as a whole.
IS ASEAN A RELEVANT PARTNER?
The ASEAN leaders’ summit in Bali in October 2003 reaffirmed the commitment to establish by 2020 an ASEAN community consisting of three pillars: the ASEAN Economic Community, the ASEAN Security Community, and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. ASEAN is known all over the world for its care of its member countries without which ASEAN would not have accomplished its achievements of the past thirty-eight years. In the economic sphere, economies of scale provided the rationale behind the ASEAN embrace of all Southeast Asian countries into its fold. All together ASEAN has a combined population of more than 520 million, a total GDP of over US$680 billion. The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) was set in motion twelve years ago and the more developed ASEAN economies have decided to reduce the tariff level in goods from 5 to 0 per cent.