The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is a natural economic area bound together by the Mekong River, covering 2.6 million square kilometers and a combined population of around 326 million. In 1992, the six countries along the Mekong River–Cambodia, People’s Republic of China (PRC), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam–formed the Greater Mekong Subregion with the launch of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program (the GMS Program). Supported by the Asian Development Bank, and facilitating regional investment, collaboration, and integration across major growth sectors, the GMS Program has successfully stimulated economic growth, helped reduce poverty and improve livelihoods in the subregion for the last 20 years.

Guiding the GMS Program is the GMS Strategic Framework 2012–2022 and the GMS Regional Investment Framework 2013–2017, the latter which consists of a $50 billion pipeline of potential investments.

The GMS Program has nine priority sectors represented by working groups and forums for agriculture, energy, environment, human resource development, investment, telecommunications, tourism, transport infrastructure, and transport and trade facilitation.

The GMS Working Group on Environment (WGE) oversees the GMS Core Environment Program, the flagship environmental cooperation initiative under the GMS Program. With support from the Environment Operations Center, the WGE aims to facilitate cross-sector environmental collaboration under the GMS Program with key sectors being agriculture, energy, tourism, and transport.

Expand to see more