1.Rural Development

With the integration of our economy, rural development is no longer a national issue. Cited from an ADB Survey (2010) where over 3000 Among the costs associated with regionalism, Asian opinion leaders are most concerned about a potential widening of the divide between the rich and the poor. This may happen because the opportunities of benefiting from stronger regional economic ties are unevenly distributed within countries. Even though, the GMS countries have achieved impressive economic growth in the last decade, 60-70% of the GMS peoples are living in rural areas and majority of these rural poor are living in rural community and secondary town along the borders. This income and development disparity must be mitigated by regional measures. such as improving infrastructure, promoting investment and employment in secondary towns and rural communities in the poorer region like Northeast of Thailand, North and Northwest of Cambodia, Southern Laos, and Central Highland of Vietnam.

MI Strategic Thrust under the Rural Development for Sustainable Livelihoods area include :

A. Promoting Agriculture Value Chains.

The idea of value chain is intuitive and it refer to the full range of activities that are required to bring a product (or a service) from conception through the different phases of production to delivery to the consumer. In the GMS, competitiveness has been enhanced by creation of regional supply chains, in which many different countries add value to specific parts along the chain. This strategy requires excellent logistics as well as other measure to facilitate a firm's participation and value creation. MI's transnational agricultural value chains program will include:

i Under RETA 7521: Enhancing capacity of CCI in promoting investment and value chains in EWEC, work with ADB consultant to study specify produce value chains, documents and make policy recommendations.
ii Organize transnational workshop to promote agricultural value chains, with a specific focus on up to three major produces; 
iii Organize study visit to trace the whole supply chains of identified produces;
iv. Improve and package Transnational Agricultural Value Chains as one of the core MI learning program to be conducted yearly.
v. Work with concerned agencies, e.g. Government of Isarael, to develop and deliver three year program on post-harvest practices; 
vi. Publish, disseminate and follow-up on Mi research on contract farming, "Management Policies on Contract Farming between Thailand, Laos and China". Research findings will be used as case study materials in related learning programs. 

B. Promote Rural Development through Local Economic Development Management

MI will work with InWEnt Regional Management Program to promote the "Regional Management" concept in rural development. This will include:

i Building up national training teams; .
ii Developing curriculum on Regional Management in the context of GMS integration 

All in all, Mi will work to prepare rural communities and small SMEs in the GMS to embrace a borderless economic community by 2015. Initiatives targeting rural development are regarded as effective interventions to help the GMS countries narrowing the gap between rich and poor, rural and urban and inland and coastal areas.

More information please contact :
Rural Development for Sustainable Livelihoods Dept.
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: + 66 (0) 4320 2411-2
Fax: + 66 (0) 4334 3131

2.Trade and Investment Facilitation

MI's strategic thrust under the Trade and Investment Facilitation area includes:

A. Trade and Investment Policies and Trade Negotiation

The development of economic corridors and integration initiatives such as IAI highlight the importance of complementary measures related to policies and institutions in regional trade. With increased connectivity, trade facilitation has emerged as a key element to spur investment and economic growth in the sub-region. Closer economic relations between Mekong economies, and their integration into capacity on trade policy making and negotiations.

While the economic philosophies in the GMS have changed to become more market oriented, there is a constant shortage of government officials who are trained in market economic principles. It is of paramount importance for government officials and other development practitioners in the four new ASEAN member states to deepen their understanding on economic integration at sub-regional, regional and global levels.

MI's Trade and Investment Policies and Trade Negotiation program will include:

i Leadership in competitive enterprise; 
ii International trade and negotiation 
iii Regional integration framework (knowledge of ASEAN integration, bilateral and multi-lateral agreements and their impacts on a country's economy and differently business sectors); 
iv. Cross-Border Trade Agreements and Logistics. 

B. Promoting Agricultural Trade and Investment along Economic Corridors and Pro-poor Private Sector Development

Transboundary production/value chains have been promoted under several bilateral and multilateral agreements, especially in trade and investment, agriculture and industrial sectors. To prepare the new ASEAN countries to integrate effectively into the single ASEAN production base and single market, capacity building of private sector associations in value chain analysis and promotion is vital. Under the trade and investment facilitator theme, MI will cater for the needs of the private sector, and design and implement programs to promote such value-chains along the economic corridors. Topics to be included:

i   Capacity building on entrepreneurship and enterprise Management for agricultural-based SMEs; 
ii  Promoting GMS SME Regional Gateway-GMS BIZ Network; 
iii Capacity building on supply chain management for agribusiness SMEs; 
iv. Strengthening local Chambers of Commerce and Industry along economic corridors to promote intra and inter corridors trade and investment. 

MII will promote trade and investment in the GMS economic corridors in close collaboration with ADB Thailand Mission, GMS Business Forum, Japan External Trade Organization an Trade Facilitation Division of UNESCAP.

More information please Contact:
Trade and Investment Facilitation Dept.
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Tel: + 66 (0) 4320 2411-2
Fax: + 66 (0) 4334 3131

3.Human Migration and Care

Economic development in the GMS has been consistently strong over the last 10 years and the migration of workers within the sub-region has been an important contributing factor. The large flow of migrant labor taking place in the GMS reflect the uneven pace of development among the economies of the sub-region, as well as the demographic disparities in individual societies. Cross-border mobility in the GMS, particularly of labor is increasing, as employment opportunities and labor migrants move across border to meet market demand. The flows are also facilitated by factors such as proximity to one anothers, cultural similarities, support from migrant networks and construction of highways.

There are important challenges, related to human migration in the GMS involving sending, transit and receiving countries. For example, there is an urgent need to reform, strengthen and harmonize GMS vocational and technical training standards and to harmonize labor migration policies to meet the demands across the region. The absence of systematic information about labor markets in the sub-region makes it more difficult for GMS countries to provide appropriate training an information to their populations to enable cross-border opportunities in skilled employment.

Mi's Human Migration and Care program will include:

a. Research on the relationship between economic development and migration in the GMS. Research findings will be used as case study materials in related learning programs; 
b. Study the effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral agreements on labor migration and make policy recommendations in the form of policy consultation and policy brief; 
c. Promote harmonization of migration management system (in recruiting, orientation, sending, receiving and repatriating of labor) across the GMS. 
d. Implement standardization and certification of vocation skill training in the region (logistics, transportation, warehousing, shipping, office works, etc.) 

More information please contact: Human Migration and Care Dept.
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: + 66 (0) 4320 2411-2
Fax: + 66 (0) 4334 3131