In a bid to further strengthen cross-border trade in the East West Economic Corridor (EWEC), Mekong Institute (MI) through its RLED-EWEC Project recently co-organized the EWEC Business Forum 2019 with the Mukdahan Commercial Affairs Office on June 26-27, 2019 in Mukdahan Province, Thailand. Around 180 government officers and entrepreneurs (producers, importers and exporters) from the provinces along the EWEC particularly Vietnam’s Quang Binh and Quang Tri; Lao PDR’s Khammouane and Savannakhet provinces; Myanmar’s Myawaddy province and Thailand’s northeastern and northern region provinces, joined the two-day event.
MI’s RLED-EWEC Project has been playing a key role in advancing cross-border trading along the EWEC with a series of Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) dialogues in the major provinces, Mukdahan included, held since last year.
Mr. Chanyan Sirimas, the Governor of Mukdahan Province, remarked that the East West Economic Corridor offers several valuable points for economic development, notably Mawlamyine in Myawaddy, Myanmar, Savannakhet in Lao PDR, Lao Bao and Danang in Vietnam, as well as Tak and Mukdahan in Thailand. “I sincerely hope that this Forum can give opportunities to entrepreneurs to network and explore market opportunities, and ultimately help increase business revenue to boost our economy,” he added.
Ms. Jantipa Pattamasewi, Director of Mukdahan Commercial Affairs Office, also underscored that, in addition to offering a platform for establishing partnership and fostering cooperation, the event also intended to highlight the trade potentials and investment opportunities in the EWEC in particular in terms of import and export.
In addition to panel discussions and product presentations, the event’s highlight was a business matching among enterprises from the participating provinces. Some 16 enterprises were matched, with the partnerships formalized through a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding witnessed by representatives of key government agencies of the provinces.
