Spinning a tale of cooperation

BOKEO  Authorities from Laos, China, Myanmar and Thailand have agreed to cooperate to improve trade, investment and tourism activities as well as human resource development.
They signed a memorandum of understanding at the 8th Regional Border Area Cooperation Conference held in Huay Xai town of Bokeo province last week.
The delegations from four northern provinces of Laos that attended the meeting composed of Bokeo, Luang Namtha, Oudomxay and Luang Prabang.
Bokeo Provincial Department of Foreign Affars director, Hongkeo Vinayvong, told the Vientiane Times that the new agreement would boost trade in the region.
Inside no.2The director added that human resources was a priority and more investment was needed in the study of each other’s languages to improve communications and good relations.
Bokeo is strategically located in the centre of the Economic Quadrangle (Thailand, Myanmar, China and Laos) as well as the North-South Corridor (overland connection between Southwestern China and Southeast Asia).
The R3A road and the 4th Thailand-Laos Friendship bridge linking Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong and Hauy Xai in Bokeo province facilitates vehicles carrying goods between China and Thailand. Tourism has benefited, but there are no clear indicators to evaluate whether cross-border travel has made dramatic improvements or not.
The Provincial Department of Planning and Investment director, Souban Sompasong, talked optimistically that Bokeo was on the verge of a boom that will see the province “integrated with the region and the world.”
“The bridge is already boosting Bokeo province’s economy, as investors race to reserve land near the crossing. The bridge provides Laos with better access, which could attract more foreign investment to the country and the region.”
His statement cannot be substantiated by facts on the ground. The only buyers of land and real estate near the bridge are Chinese speculators and a year or more after the bridge opened most of the shop houses, snatched up by Chinese investors remain empty.
Traffic is light and there are not enough travellers using the bridge to support restaurants, shops or other commercial activities. There are lines of container trucks parked on the approach roads to the bridge. Before the bridge opened they parked in the streets of Chiang Khong, while waiting to board ferries. The bridge eased that bottleneck, but it is not contributing to tourism on the scale that was anticipated.
Souban commented on prospects: “The province economy is agriculture-based with a high proportion of subsistence farming, but in the future Bokeo will become a trade and tourism hub of the northern region. The business sector has moved to build hotels, restaurants and other service related businesses after learning that the economy will boom in our province.”
None of his statement bear the slightest scrutiny and even the most casual observations indicate unless there is a serous rethink on regulations governing the use of the bridge and the introduction of a one-stop process for customs and immigration the golden years for cross-border tourism are still a decade down track.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia