Conference on the cooperation for tourism, trade, investment and media among three provinces

               On November 12th, 2015 in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri  People's Committee, the host unit, held the conference on the cooperation for tourism, trade, investment and media among three provinces including Quang Tri – Savannakhet (Laos) – Mukdahan (Thailand) of the year 2015. Attending the conference, there were Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Vice-Director of General Department of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Mai Thuc, the commissioner of the Central Standing Committee, Vice-Chairman of Provincial People's Committees, Head of delegation of Quang Tri province. Mr. Khampheui Phanthachone, Vice-Chairman of Provincial People's Committees, Head of delegation of Savannakhet province. Mr. Yongyuth Singthawat, Vice-Chairman of Provincial People's Committees, Head of delegation of Mukdahan province; the representative of the Consulate General of Vietnam in Savannakhet, the representative of the Consulate General of Laos in Da Nang; representatives of the departments and agencies in Quang Tri Province, enterprises and investors.
On delivering speech for the opening of the conference, on behalf of the delegation of Quang Tri Province, Mr. Mai Thuc, Vice Chairman highlighted the importance of Conference on the cooperation for tourism, trade, investment and media among three provinces including Quang Tri - Savannakhet- Mukdahan. He said that Quang Tri is the province located in the first point on the route of East - West Economic Corridor towards Vietnam so it has many advantages in the exploitation and cooperation of the investment, trade and tourism. On this basis, Quang Tri has made an action and taken the steps to strengthen investment cooperation as well as actively implemented the commitment contents of the trade tourism cooperation such as: guiding the customs officers in Lao Bao Border Gate in coordination with the customs officers in Densavan (Laos) Border to implement several measures to shorten the clearance time for cargo, vehicles and immigration passengers; using the model of checking  "one door, one stop" contributing to promoting Vietnam – Laos trade connections, integration, economic cooperation with the countries in the region and over the world ...
This conference aims to clarify the scientific and practical basis to submit to  the politburo and government regulations, policies and mechanisms which help Quang Tri province develop economy and promote efficiency of the East - West Economic Corridor and to clarify the comparative advantages of regional economic development in Southeast of Quang Tri province to attract the investors. This is also an important event to continue implementation of the agreements signed by the leaders of three provinces and strengthen development cooperation, exchange of information, expertise and professional skills as well as to make solutions to improve the efficiency of cooperation activities to promote tourism, trade, investment and media on the East - West Economic Corridor ...
In the speech delivered at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Deputy of Tourism Department said that tourism cooperation within ASEAN has been a continuous cooperation process for over 20 years and it has brought positive results in many fields. Therefore, the provinces including Quang Tri, Savannakhet and Mukdahan need to strengthen the cooperation in research, develop the policies to create favorable conditions for the tourists traveling in the area of the Economic East – West Corridor and do cooperative activities such as signing tourism projects of the country in order to avoid duplication of activities; pushing up the implementation of agreements between Vietnam, Laos and Thailand on tourist transport and promoting road tourism, encouraging forms of tourism with self-driving car. Beside these, it is necessary to make collaboration in creating tourism products based on exploiting the strengths of each province, continuing to cooperate to attract tourists from third countries, strengthening the links in market research and tourism promotion and continuing to cooperate in human resources training in the area of tourism...
Contributing ideas at the conference, Mr. Khampheuy Phanthachone, Vice-Chairman of Savannakhet Province stressed the achievements in cooperation in tourism, trade, investment and media among the 3 provinces in recent years. At the same time, he said this conference is a good opportunity for the participants to exchange information, discuss about the experiences and the cooperation in all fields, especially in the promotion of tourism, trade cooperation and  investment of three countries including Vietnam, Laos, Thailand in general and Quang Tri, Savannakhet, Mukdahan in particular.
Agreeing with this view, Mr. Yongyuth Singthawat, Vice-chairman of Mukdahan province said that this conference is an important milestone in the cooperation in various fields among three provinces including Quang Tri, Savannakhet, Mukdahan.
The outcomes of conference are very important but it will not achieve practical results if any party does not have the next action plans. That’s the reason why 3 provinces should make collaboration as soon as possible to create favorable conditions for development of tourism, trade, investment and media to boost the rapid socio-economic and sustainable development.
 
At the conference, based on the ideas and opinions of the representatives, the Head of delegation of three provinces including Quang Tri, Savannakhet, Mukdahan agreed and proceeded to sign the Memorandum of Cooperation in Tourism, Trade, Investment and Communications in 2015 and evaluated the implementation of cooperation agreements  in the past years including the contents as follows: creating favorable conditions for immigration, import and export; implementation of the agreement on facilitating movement of people and goods across borders; expanding Bangkok - Savannakhet - Hue international commercial aviation; cooperation in the field of communication; promotion activities, advertising and a number of other cooperation agreements; making the agreement about the collaboration plans in the near future and further direction to promote connectivity, reform administrative procedures and reduce barriers; increase investment in equipment, improve the quality of services in order to facilitate tourism, trade, investment and cross-border trade; summarizing the implementation of the model "one door, one stop" in Densavan - Lao Bao international border gate and applying this model in to the implementation of procedures in Mukdahan – Savannakhet international border gate; demanding the Governments of three countries to guide the branches and localities to fully implement the Agreement on facilitating the movement of people and goods across the borders among the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries, especially  guiding the relevant authorities to implement the licensing process, customs procedures, creating favorable conditions for the means of transport of Vietnam and Thailand when they travel in each other's territory; demanding the Governments of three countries to promote the early signing of a memorandum on opening the tourism transport route among three provinces including Quang Tri, Savannakhet, Mukdahan; continuing to promote cooperation in the tourism, trade, investment and some other important fields.
On this occasion, on behalf of the leaders of Quang Tri province, Mr. Mai Thuc, Vice - Chairman offered the souvenirs to the delegates who participated in the conference.