“Connectivity and competitiveness are cornerstones of trade and economic growth. The influx of investors highly depend on such enabling environment and sound incentive policies,” said Mr. Sudam Pawar, Director of MI’s Innovation and Technological Connectivity Department, as he addressed the participants of the training program on Information Requirements between Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the Lancang-Mekong (LM) Region. The training program runs from December 16 to 19, 2019 at the MI residential training center in Khon Kaen, Thailand.  

Gathering 16 participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand, the training program aims at identifying and confirming relevant information for the Economic Zones (EZs) Online Information Portal in the LM countries; enhancing knowledge on online information systems for promoting regional trade and investment; and implementing work plans for providing information to the EZs Online System. To ensure a multi-stakeholder participation, the training participants consist of various level officials from different departments (information technology, marketing and promotion, export-import, customer and one-stop services, personnel management, and commercial affairs) of SEZs and other related authorities.

From training sessions, action plan implementation, and synthesis and evaluation workshop, Mr. Pawar assured the participants of MI’s guidance and support throughout the three-phase program. He urged the participants to take active interest in these issues to make economic zones successful. “As key actors of economic zones in your respective countries, you are agents of change who can make tangible impacts,” he concluded.

The training program is part of a roster of projects implemented by MI in the six LM countries (Cambodia, PR China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam), in coordination with the Ministry of Commerce of the Royal Government of Thailand and funded by the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund. To learn more about the project, please visit https://cutt.ly/brqyf8e and https://cutt.ly/SrqsWss