The annual Meeting of the GTI Northeast Asia (NEA) Local Cooperation Committee (LCC) from 15-16 August 2017 brought together governors and vice-governors from Northeast Asia for the fifth time to propose review and discuss concrete cooperation projects in the region. At the meeting, Selenge Aimag of Mongolia joined the mechanism showing the growing interest of local and provincial governments to join a platform for the discussion of cross-border cooperation in Northeast Asia. The GIZ SCSI programme contributed to the discussion by providing examples of cross-border cooperation on the local level in Europe.

As always, one of the members hosts the annual event in a cross-border city, such as this year’s location Heihe, a border port between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation. A technical tour to the customs service station and Russian-Chinese markets showed the vitality of cross-border trade but also highlighted the opportunities for further cooperation – especially regarding customs procedures and logistics.

GIZ supports the LCC, especially in its inauguration phase in 2010 and since 2011 has been taking part in all meetings providing input. Through advisory services, GIZ also supported the set-up of the Logistics Sub-Committee (LSC) of the LCC mechanism which now provides a platform for public-private dialogue between local governments and logistics providers in the region. Here, local governments and entrepreneurs can address concrete issues and opportunities of logistical chains in the region.

Related Blog posts on our support to the NEA LCC process:

Blog post on the NEA Local Development Forum, Yonago, Japan, 2014
Blog post on the 3rd NEA LCC Meeting in Dornod, Mongolia, 2015