Japan has vowed to continue assisting five Southeast Asian countries in the Mekong sub-region in building infrastructure and developing the regional economy towards the establishment of an ASE AN Economic Community by the end of 2015, according to Japan’s Kyodo news.

Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Norio Mitsuya said at a Japan-Mekong forum in Tokyo on February 18 that Japan will help create the envisaged community by "enhancing connectivity and reducing development gaps" between more developed states such as Singapore and less developed ones including Myanmar.

"Japan's support to the Mekong region is dictated by a long-term perspective for the development of individual countries and the region at large," the official added.

The Forum for the Promotion of Public-Private Cooperation in the Mekong Region was attended by government officials, businesspeople and experts of the five Mekong nations - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar ,Thailand and Vietnam. The five, together with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Its outcome will be reported to a foreign ministerial meeting and a summit of Japan and the Mekong states scheduled for later this year, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

On the sidelines of a Japan- ASE AN summit in December last year, Japan unveiled a total of 200 billion JPY (roughly 1.96 billion USD) in aid to the Mekong region, on top of a three-year, 600 billion JPY assistance package pledged at a Japan-Mekong summit in 2012.

(Source: VNA)