The Swedish aid worth a total of 5 million U.S. dollars will be extended to the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries which include Laos, Thailand and Vietnam through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under an agreement reached between the Swedish government and the ADB.
The 4,500-km Mekong River, originating from China, runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and the aid will assist the GMS countries in acquiring technical know-how for the development of electrical infrastructures that do not affect the environment.
Mutual benefit can be succeeded through cross-border power trade which can be carried out between China and Vietnam, between Vietnam and Cambodia, and between Laos and Thailand.
The agreement on regional power trade was among the four documents signed by the six GMS countries in Kunming, China during the Second GMS Summit in July 2005. The other three accords are the GMS Cross-Border Transport Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases in GMS and MoU on Cooperation, Rules and Regulations and Guidelines.
Initiated by the Asian Development Bank, the GMS-Economic Cooperation was founded in 1992 to bring together the six countries along the Mekong River.
