Published on November 04, 2005 - Acmecs leaders agree to cooperate on combating virus in the region. Thailand will contribute Bt100 million to a fund being set up to combat avian influenza in the region, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday. The money is separate from the budget for bird-flu containment within the Kingdom and will be spent on sending vaccines, medicine, medical equipment and personnel to areas in the region where outbreaks take place, Thaksin said.

He was speaking at the end of the second Acmecs (Ayeyawady-Chao Phya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) Summit in Bangkok, which ended yesterday.

Thaksin and his Acmecs counterparts - Hun Sen of Cambodia, Bounnhang Vorachith of Laos, Lt-General Soe Win of Burma and Phan Van Khai of Vietnam - also signed the Declaration on Partnership in Combating Avian Influenza and Other Infectious Diseases. This is an agreement to jointly develop vaccines, create public education campaigns, share information and personnel and stockpile anti-viral drugs.

Vietnam and Thailand have been the countries worst hit by bird flu, although Cambodia and Laos have also had outbreaks.

Besides the bird-flu problem, Acmecs leaders also reached agreement on cooperation in agriculture and tourism.

Thaksin said that Thailand will waive import duties on 10 agricultural commodities from Acmecs countries, including green beans, corn and cashew nuts, under a “contract farming” scheme.

Acmecs countries will also set up one-stop service checkpoints along the border to avoid redundancy in procedures as well as a direct hotline to avoid border problems, he added.

To promote tourism, Thailand and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding on the “single visa” idea, which will allow travellers to visit both countries with a single visa. The scheme is expected to come into effect in six months and later include all five countries.

Acmecs countries will also hold a tourism promotion event at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat next November, Thaksin said.

He said Thailand and Vietnam agreed to provide assistance in human-resource development to the other countries. For example, Thailand had offered 100 internships in the field of public health and alternative energy in 2004-2005.

Set up in 2003, Acmecs aims to boost the economic potential and cooperation between its five member countries. The next summit will be held in Hanoi in 2007.