The Ha Noi Action Plan 2018 2022

The Ha Noi Action Plan 2018–2022 addresses the unfinished and expanded agenda of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program for the remaining 5 years of the GMS Strategic Framework 2012–2022. The Ha Noi Action Plan provides directions and operational focus to the GMS program and guides identification of projects in transport, urban development, energy, agriculture, environment, tourism, trade facilitation, human resource development, and information and communication technology. The Ha Noi Action Plan's key elements are: spatial strategy focused on economic corridors; refinements in sector strategies and priorities; improvements in planning, programming, and monitoring systems and processes; and enhancements in institutional arrangements and partnerships.

The Ha Noi Action Plan 2018-2022 (HAP) addresses the unfinished and expanded agenda of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program for the remaining 5 years of the GMS Strategic Framework 2012-2022. The HAP provides directions and operational focus to the GMS program and guides identification of projects in transport, urban development, energy, agriculture, environment, tourism, trade facilitation, human resource development, and information and communication technology. The HAP's key elements are: spatial strategy focused on economic corridors; refinements in sector strategies and priorities; improvements in planning, programming, and monitoring systems and processes; and enhancements in institutional arrangements and partnerships.

This book investigates the origins and dynamics of sub-regional phenomena based on international river basins, namely the Mekong and Danube rivers. It emphasizes the integration process of the Greater Mekong Sub-region and the European Strategy for the Danube Region, which are located in two different geopolitical and structural settings—one in Southeast Asia in the regional context of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the other in Central and Eastern Europe within the regional context of the EU. By comparing two unique case studies within different structural settings, additional and valuable insights into the occurrence and formation of sub-regional integration processes are provided, enabling an evaluation of similarities and differences. Understanding sub-regional integration dynamics requires not only ‘looking upward’ to the regional and even the global level, but indeed ‘looking downwards’ to the local level. After all, sub-regional integration processes are generally described as ‘bottom-up’ processes, based on local interests and expectations. Despite the growing number of sub-regional projects, sub-regionalism remains inadequately studied in the field of political science, and, as such, this book offers unique contributions to the understanding of sub-regional integration processes. Consequently, it will be of interest to readers who are interested in regional and sub-regional integration processes, as well as those with a specific interest in both the EU and ASEAN geographic regions.

There is no bigger policy agenda in the East Asian region than connectivity. Costs of international connectivity are indeed falling, in the movement of goods, services, people and data, leading to greater flows, and to the reorganisation of business and the emergence of new forms of international transactions. There are second-round effects on productivity and growth, and on equity and inclusiveness. Participating in trade across borders involves significant set-up costs and, if these costs are lowered due to falling full costs of connectivity, more firms will participate, which is a driver of productivity growth and innovation at the firm level. Connectivity investments are linked to poverty reduction, since they reduce the costs of participating in markets. This volume includes chapters on the consequences of changes in both physical and digital connectivity for trade, for the location of economic activity, for forms of doing business, the growth of e-commerce in particular, and for the delivery of new services, especially in the financial sector. A study of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is also included. These studies are preceded by an assessment of the connectivity performance in the Asia-Pacific region and followed by a discussion of impediments to investment in projects that contribute to productivity. The collection as a whole provides the basis for a series of recommendations for regional cooperation. The Pacific Trade and Development (PAFTAD) conference series has been at the forefront of analysing challenges facing the economies of East Asia and the Pacific since its first meeting in Tokyo in January 1968.

Wasser, Wasserressourcen und Wasserwirtschaft sind heute mit die schwierigsten, nicht-traditionellen und grenzüberschreitenden Sicherheitsprobleme überhaupt. Auf der Grundlage von Dokumenten aus erster Hand versuchen die Experten in diesem Band, ein Verständnis dafür zu entwickeln, warum die Greater Mekong Subregion(GMS) aus geostrategischer Sicht wichtig ist, welche historischen und aktuellen Herausforderungen die Region zu bewältigen hat, wie sich Großmächte wie China, Indien, Japan und die USA politisch in der GMS engagieren und was die GMS in der Frage des Wasserressourcenmanagements von anderen Regionen lernen kann.

Since the beginning of decolonisation in Africa, regional integration has become one of the most potent defining characteristics of the continent’s quest for industrialisation and sustainable development. It was understood that the individual continental economies could not achieve the requisite level of industrial development to meet their respective development objectives due to the colonial policy of balkanisation, which divided the continent into small, economically unviable units. In 1992, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) adopted developmental integration, an approach to regional integration to engender industrialisation and address the region’s development challenges. This book offers a critical assessment and examination of this approach as to how it has influenced the industrialisation process in Southern Africa. If so, why has it failed to accelerate the region’s industrialisation and structural transformation process? It contributes significantly to cross-cutting development debates on the African continent, particularly in southern Africa. More importantly, in understanding the nexus between developmental integration and industrialisation.

This book anchors its arguments in Article 20 of the Watercourses Convention and explores consistencies and inconsistencies in parallel definitions, substantive and procedural obligations and institutional arrangements in IWL, and the Ramsar and Biodiversity Conventions with respect to the protection and preservation of ecosystems of shared inland waters. Dr. Yang Liu argues that the all-around informed and integrated application of IWL and MEAs is essential for the effective protection and preservation of shared inland water ecosystems. However, the degree of cross-fertilization of parallel provisions should be examined on a case-by-case basis in light of the legal analytical framework deployed in this study.

Based on workshops co-organized by Japan's St. Andrew University and Taiwan's National Chengchi University, this book provides readers with the toolbox for navigating the regional dynamics of political economy in Southeast Asia, with special focus on exploring the key factors determining the shifting dynamics. Organized in three parts, namely, geopolitical and security factors, alternative fields for regional cooperation, and the regional considerations of Southeast Asia, the chapters in the book feature key factors determining the political economy of the region. Written by authors hailing from varied backgrounds, this book is also a joint research effort on policy discussion and timely assessment of COVID-19 recovery plans in Southeast Asia.