Toward progress of friendship and inclusive development

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt of the speech by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the opening session of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit in Bangkok on December 20, 2014.

It is my great pleasure to come to the beautiful city of Bangkok. I wish to thank the Thai government for the thoughtful arrangements it has made for this meeting. This is the first time for me to attend the GMS Summit and I take great pleasure in having exchanges with friends, both old and new.

Currently, the global economic recovery remains sluggish, the development of major economies is showing a trend of divergence and regional hotspot issues keep flaring up. Asia, although faced with the challenge of downward economic pressure, remains a dynamic region for growth in the world. This is attributable to the peaceful and stable development environment of the region and to continued progress in regional and subregional cooperation. China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have established a wide-ranging, multi-tiered and comprehensive pattern for good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, as well as a community of shared destinies where we stand by each other in both the good and bad times. Joint efforts are being made to implement the "2+7" cooperation framework reached last year to promote peaceful coexistence, inclusive and sustainable development as well as win-win progress. I wish to reaffirm here that China will remain committed to the path of peaceful development. We will firmly uphold regional peace and stability and firmly support the process of ASEAN integration, and will always take ASEAN as a priority in our diplomatic agenda.

The five countries on the Indo-China Peninsula are important members of ASEAN. China and the five countries are all located on the banks of the Lancang-Mekong River and are connected by common mountains and rivers. We enjoy close cultural links and economic complementariness. For China, the five countries are indeed very close neighbors among all the close neighbors China has in ASEAN. China has always worked to develop relations with other GMS countries on the basis of friendship, mutual respect and equality, and has stayed in communication with these countries at both the regional and international levels. China will continue to follow the diplomacy of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, as well as strengthening partnership and friendship with these neighbors. China will continue to promote traditional friendship with its five neighbors on the Indo-China Peninsula and work with them to jointly promote regional economic development and improve people's lives. We GMS countries can work together to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation across the board so as to lay a solid foundation for long-term prosperity, stability and development of the subregion.

GMS countries are endowed with superior conditions for closer cooperation, which enjoys strong public support and shows bright prospects for growth. Since the launch of the subregional cooperation mechanism in 1992, heartening achievements have been made in promoting economic integration and advancing social and economic development of the countries concerned. In 2013, China's trade with the five countries on the Indo-China Peninsula was more than $150 billion. Deepening development and cooperation in the greater Mekong subregion helps to significantly narrow the development gap among ASEAN countries; it also makes an important part of China's efforts to build an upgraded version of China-ASEAN cooperation. The Regional Investment Framework Implementation Plan to be adopted at this summit will further identify the cooperation road map for the coming four years, which will cover ten key areas, including business, transport, environmental protection, urbanization, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. China will work with the five countries to build a new framework of deeper cooperation, which will lead us to a new stage of comprehensive development partnership for the greater Mekong subregion. Here, I wish to make the following five proposals.