Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien made the above suggestion while attending the 15th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Viet Nam Economic Ministers' Meeting (CLMV EMM 15) in Semarang city, Indonesia on August 18.
The event was part of the 55th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting (AEM 55) and related meetings held from August 17-22.
Addressing the event, Nguyen expressed thanks to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar for their active participation and contributions to activities chaired by Viet Nam in 2022 and over the last few months of 2023.
Regarding the CLMV Action Plan for the 2023-2024 period, Viet Nam will continue supporting stalls of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar at some international fairs and exhibitions organized in Viet Nam and granting more scholarships for students from these three nations, noted the Minister.
He called on countries to support each other to effectively implement free trade agreements they have joined, contributing to consolidating regional supply chains and promoting the development of business community.
Delegates at the event discussed reports on the economic, trade, and investment situations of the four countries, the completion of the CLMV Action Plan for the 2021-2022 period, and the progress of the CLMV Action Plan for the 2023-2024 period.
They also updated the implementation of the Action Plan for the CLMV Development Framework and a project regarding the workshop on the socialization of the implementation of the Action Plan for CLMV Development Framework, and other important issues.
Trade value between CLMV nations and the rest of the world hit over US$831 billion in 2022, up 10 percent against the previous year, accounting for 21.6 percent of the total trade value of ASEAN Member States with other nations in the world./.