TOKYO: Japan is rolling out the red carpet this weekend for the leaders of the “Mekong Five” as it pushes infrastructure exports and courts influence in a region where rival China has an increasing presence.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet with his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — fast-growing economies through which the lower section of the Mekong river flows — at the seventh annual “Japan-Mekong” summit in Tokyo on Saturday.

The morning meeting, which will be followed by a series of bilateral summits, will focus on developing “high-quality infrastructure partnerships” and adopting “new strategies for Japan-Mekong cooperation”, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo’s top spokesman, said this week.

Abe has doubled efforts to sell highways, train systems and power plants around the world, a key element in his bid to bolster the economy and Japan’s standing abroad.

“Japan has traditionally maintained favourable relations with the Mekong states and they remain important destinations for Japanese investment,” said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professor at the University of Niigata Prefecture.

Published in Dawn July 4th, 2015

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