大湄公河次区域经济合作(GMS)已经成为亚洲地区主要为欠发达地区发展服务的、最具活力的重要合作机制之一,形成了宽领域、多渠道、多元化、深层次的发展格局。经济走廊是在1998年GMS第八次部长会上提出的概念,是指将交通走廊的建设与经济发展相结合,为GMS各国之间的合作与往来提供便利。10年来,大湄公河次区域经济走廊的合作不断深化,各国经贸联系趋于密切,在交通、能源、电信、贸易、环境、人力资源、农业等领域开展了卓有成效的合作,动员资金总额100多亿美元,经济年平均增长速度超过6%。2007年,中国与次区域其他5国的贸易总额达530亿美元,同比增长32%。《大湄公河次区域便利客货跨境运输协定》、《大湄公河次区域贸易投资便利化战略行动框架》、《次区域发展10年战略框架》等重要纲领以及东西、南北、南部3条交通走廊基本建成等为进一步深化次区域经济走廊的合作奠定了坚实的基础。
The concept of economic corridor represents an effective mechanism of promoting the cross-border sub-regional cooperation and development, aiming at assisting the governments, multilateral institutions and private investment sectors to better connect with the value chain and production-marketing network of global enterprises. Functions of the developing economic corridor are continuously evolving, and the influence factors include traffic infrastructures and transportation, the space expansion of corridor economy, and ecological environment and life quality. The continuous evolution of functions of economic corridor can be effectively promoted by demand-oriented mechanism, service-oriented mechanism and appreciating cross-border coordinative mechanism.