Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam triangle striving to succeed

A LITTLE-KNOWN economic zone, the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle (CLV-DT), is aiming to reduce the economic gap between itself and the more developed Asean countries. It is striving to harness its collective strengths through borderless free trade, investments and tourism, but it has confronted obstacles.

The triangle - encompassing a few provinces from each country that either share borders with each other, or are close by - suffers from the three "poors" and the two "lacks", which are hobbling development efforts.

Nguyen Binh Giang argues in a research article that the triangle faces "poor cooperation" among the member provinces, "poor road network" and "poor facilities" in some provinces. And, there is a "lack" of a trilateral arrangement for bus travel among the three countries, and a "lack" of properly conceived trilateral tourism projects.

There are significant successes, however. The prime ministers of the three countries plan to hold their 10th summit meeting later this year in Vietnam to push forward the development.

The CLV-DT covers 13 provinces: Kratie, Mondolkiri, Ratanakiri and Stung Treng in Cambodia; Champassak, Saravane, Attapeu and Sekong in Laos; and Binh Phuoc, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum in Vietnam.

The origin of the CLV-DT goes back to October 20, 1999, the year when Cambodia became the 10th member of Asean. The three prime ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam held the first unofficial summit on that day, agreeing to build a "development triangle". At the 2nd CLV-DT summit in Ho Chi Minh City in 2002, the prime ministers pledged to boost cooperation in transportation, trade, electricity, tourism, human resource training and health care in their region.

The CLV-DT is a component of the Greater Mekong Subregion, which includes the three CLV partners plus Myanmar, Thailand and China's Yunnan province.

The three CLV prime ministers formally signed the Vientiane Declaration on the establishment of the CLV-DT and ratified the Master Plan on Socio-Economic Development in the Development Triangle Area at the Asean summit in Vientiane in 2004.

The CLV has been seeking funds from Japan. At Vientiane in the same year, the CLV prime ministers held a summit meeting with Japan. Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, Laotian Prime Minister Bounnhang Vorachith and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai met then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi in Vientiane in November 2004.

POOR INFRASTRUCTURE

At the event, Japan declared it was determined to promote its initiative for developing the Mekong region by providing US$1.5 billion over three years, in addition to cooperating with the CLV within the framework of Tokyo's commitment to the Mekong.

Japanese financial assistance to the development triangle is, however, tiny compared to its commitment to the Greater Mekong Subregion projects. The leaders of Japan and the CLV have recognised that the success of the development triangle hinges partially on Cambodia carrying out reforms to its telecoms sector, and Laos conducting fiscal reforms.

Since December 2005 when prime minister Koizumi announced Japanese participation in 16 projects worth about US$18 million for the development triangle, several Japanese-funded projects were started in education, irrigation and infrastructure. Later, Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama began supporting the triangle area with more projects.

At the 5th CLV-Japan summit in Vientiane in November 2008, the prime ministers accorded high priority to simplifying administrative rules to facilitate travel in the region, mobilising the resources of each country, attracting investments and developing preferential trade policies for the region.

Calling for the promotion of the three member states as one destination for tourists, the 9th CLV summit in Cambodia in November 2016 called for unlocking the potential of the triangle area, especially community-based tourism, eco-tourism and cultural tourism. It instructed their senior officials to establish a task force to draft a tourism development plan and submit it to the 10th CLV Summit for approval later this year.

As the biggest economy among the three, Vietnam has taken the lead by directing its Viettel telecom group to invest in modernising the telecommunication networks in the three countries using fourth-generation technology. Prime Minister Hun Sen has suggested that Viettel should support the establishment of video links for the three prime ministers and the agencies of the three countries.

Not only does the CLV lag the major Asean countries, but there are wide differences within the CLV itself. According to the International Monetary Fund, in 2017 Cambodia's per capita income was US$1,500, Laos (US$2,760), and Vietnam (US$2,480), as against Singapore (US$55,230), Malaysia (US$10,490), and Thailand (US$6,740).

Inside the CLV triangle, the individual provinces are grouped under three entities. The Vietnamese provinces fall within the Vietnam Development Triangle Area (VDTA), and the Cambodian and Laotion member provinces under the CDTA and LDTA, respectively, each of which face their own internal deficiencies.

Although the political leadership is demonstrating strong commitment, the triangle is hurt by its underdeveloped transport infrastructure. The VDTA, for instance, lacks both railway and waterway. There are, nonetheless, several plans for infrastructure development till 2020, such as a master plan for Vietnam's Central Highlands, a master plan for Vietnam-Cambodia border areas, and a master plan for Vietnam-Laos border areas.

As a result of faulty planning and lack of financing, the road network in the Vietnamese areas remains the worst among the regions of Vietnam, and cooperation and coordination of infrastructure development plans between member provinces in three countries cannot be carried out.

LACK OF COORDINATION

Since the Cambodian and Laotian provinces are landlocked, they must rely upon Vietnam for access to the ocean. The designated role of the VDTA provinces to serve as gateways for the CDTA and LDTA provinces to access the ocean, however, has remained unfulfilled due to lack of proper coordination.

In comparison to laggard CDTA and LDTA member provinces, the VDTA provinces have been more successful in attracting investment. They have even been injecting foreign investments into Cambodia and Laos.

Eventually, the triangle may become a case study in developmental success. But for now the member provinces are struggling to erase their history of the "three poors" and the "three lacks."