Hanoi (VNA) - The Government of Vietnam commits toimplementing initiatives of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and istranslating them into reality, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at theplenary meeting of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30.

The PM affirmed that Vietnamfocuses on creating a favourable environment for development, improvinginstitutional and legal groundwork, enhancing management capacity in order tobring about equal opportunities for all economic sectors, while payingattention to training and development of human resources, infrastructuredevelopment, and only considers investing into important areas which haveproved difficult for private businesses to invest in.

“Vietnam will continue improving the business environment tocreate a facilitative and competitive business environment,” he said, addingthe country has worked to implement its commitments to protecting intellectualproperty, innovative ideas and inventions of start-ups.

The country will continue to boosttax policy reforms and corporate tax rate will be decreased to 15 – 17 percentand put in place many preferential regulations for investment in advancedtechnology, supporting industries, and high-tech organic agriculture, and otherareas that create a lot of employment opportunities, he pledged.

As one of the three pillars of the GMS, the Government of Vietnam currentlyprioritises investing and attracting investment in the vital transport routes,he said.

The country is actively promotinginvestment in transport infrastructure on the East-West, North-South, andsouthern economic corridors, he added.

The Vietnamese Government also commits to implementinginitiatives to support border trade, investment, tourism, agriculture andeconomy, as well as other forms of cross-border economic cooperation.

The leader said Vietnam will further promote active international integration in the GMS and the CLV. From 2018 to 2019, the Southeast Asian nation will focus on the signing and ratification of two new-generation free trade agreements, namely Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

In his speech, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed nearly 2,600 investors andentrepreneurs of the region and the world to Vietnam to attend the 6th GMS Summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Summit, sayingthat they are the major driver of GMS economic growth.

Amidst the profound transformations underway in the worldeconomy and development environment, the GMS needs to find more robust driversfor its development such as promoting effective use of both internal andoutside resources, effectively harnessing the technological advancements andbreakthroughs, and ensuring rapid and sustainable development remain a toppriority, he said.

The plenary session also heard speeches by Thai PrimeMinister Prayut Cha-o-cha, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Myanmar Vice President UHenry Van Thio, State Councilor of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi,President of the Asia Development Bank Takehiko Nakao, Secretary General of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Lim Jock Hoi, and World BankManaging Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer Joaquim Levy.

The event sawthe paricipation of representatives from nearly 100 international organisationsand development partners, together with more than 2,000 domestic busineses andthose outside the GMS region.-VNA