The Committees of Foreign Affairs of the National Assemblies of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam convened its fourth conference in the central province of Nghe An on August 2 to promote friendship, cooperation and development of the border areas of the three countries.

The conference with the theme “the role of parliaments in supporting the Development Triangle” took place in the special context of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Year 2012 and the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Solidarity Year 2012.

The three countries have hosted an array of activities to mark the 45 th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnamese-Cambodian diplomatic ties and the 50 th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnamese-Laos diplomatic ties and 35 years since the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty.

Addressing the event, Vietnamese NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu underscored the significant role of each NA in assisting the ‘Development Triangle Area’.

Luu proposed the NAs and their external relations committees actively back agreements relating to the Development Triangle Area signed by the three governments and supervise the implementation of the agreements.

He said this conference should consider the possibility for the establishment of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Inter-Parliamentary Committee and the committee’s plan of action to supervise and assist the implementation of policies and agreements to ensure effective results.

Head of the Vietnamese NA’s Committee for External Relations Tran Van Hang said the development triangle area covers over 114,600 sq. km across 13 border provinces in the three countries, which are at the head of many important rivers in terms of environmental management and the defence and security of all three countries.

Under the three Governments’ instruction, the Development Triangle Area has seen rapid growth and basically fulfilled its given targets. People in the area have benefited from the three Governments’ priority to investment and helpful policies as well as the participation of several international organisations.

However, the achievements after 10 years of implementing the master plan on building the Development Triangle Area still remain modest and have neither matched the area’s potential nor created a breakthrough in socio-economic development.

The Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area remains an area where the development standards are lower than those in others, infrastructure development slower than planned and financial resources to implement projects remaining limited, he said.

This requires the three countries’ legislative agencies to join the three Governments in assisting the Development Triangle Area.

Meanwhile, heads of the Cambodian delegation Chheang Vun and the Lao delegation Koukeo Akhhamonty and Nghe An provincial authorities said the Development Triangle Area is politically significant in regards to each nation’s security and suitably exploiting the combined economic potential.

Delegates at the event proposed several initiatives in legislative cooperation to create a legal framework to accelerate the area’s development. They also called for more cooperation between the committees in both bilateral and multilateral activities.