(this article appeared in e-magazine Business Trends Asia (www.businesstrendsasia.com)
On 8 December 2009, the Netherlands Council for Trade Promotion in associaton with the Netherlands-Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Netherlands-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, will stage a Greater Mekong Subregion Seminar in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.
Among the speakers at the Seminar are representatives from the Asian Development Bank, a key initiator and facilitator in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), and engineering and construction companies, DHV and Royal Haskoning, both active players in the region.
Although Western companies have a significant presence in the region, in particular in Thailand and Vietnam, and to a lesser extent in Cambodia and Laos, Asian companies are by far the leading investors in the countries along the Mekong River. The US$5.9 billion Vietnam International Township project by Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Land Berhad makes Malaysia the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, while Thailand and Vietnam are the largest foreign investors in Laos, mainly in tourism and hydropower projects. Also the Chinese are appearing more and more on the GMS investment scene. Recently, grants and low-interest loans for funding of the US$86.4 million expansion of the airport of Luang Prabang in Laos were underwritten by the Chinese government. Also, Chinese investors are eyeing several hotel development projects in the country.
The recent removal of Laos and Cambodia of a United States blacklist that limits government support for U.S. companies doing business with the two nations, in an effort to counterbalance the rising influence of China, will therefore have little impact on the investment landscape in Laos and Cambodia. With or without the U.S., the Greater Mekong Subregion, is facing a bright economic future.
