The Mekong River Photo: VCG

China has decided to issue five-year multiple-entry visas to qualified business individuals from the five Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, China Central Television reported on Thursday.

The decision was announced by Chinese Premier Li Qiang while he made remarks at the eighth Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit, which was held in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, from Wednesday to Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In the first three quarters of this year, Yunnan's import and export value to the five Mekong countries reached 78.92 billion yuan ($11 billion), accounting for 93.7 percent of its trade to the 10 countries of ASEAN, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Yunnan Provincial Government said on Wednesday.

By September, Yunnan had recorded a total of $8.714 billion of non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in the Mekong River countries, and 680 non-financial ODI enterprises in the Mekong River countries had been registered and set up, according to data from Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce.

Li said that China stands ready to work with Mekong countries to deepen the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure, and enhance "soft connectivity" on policies, laws, supervision, rules and standards.

China will strive to facilitate the use of cross-border payments and local currency settlements, proactively create more cross-border cooperation demonstration zones, and accelerate the process of regional economic integration, Li added.

"China stands ready to work with Mekong countries to deepen cooperation in the new energy battery, automobile and PV industries, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as clean energy, smart manufacturing, big data and smart cities," Li said.

Li noted that since the establishment of the GMS mechanism, it has increasingly become an important platform for China and Mekong countries to explore cooperation and promote development. Thanks to concerted efforts, regional economic cooperation has made new progress with growing trade and investment, greater connectivity, expanding mutually beneficial cooperation, and deepening affinity between people. The fruitful cooperation outcomes speak volumes about the vitality and strong resilience of the GMS mechanism.

In a bid to promote sustainable development and economic integration in the region, the GMS Summit is themed "Toward a Better Community Through Innovation-driven Development." Leaders of the five Mekong countries and President of the Asian Development Bank attended the summit upon China's invitation.

Global Times