(VOVworld) – Japan has pledged to help Mekong Sub-region countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, to build their infrastructures and develop their economies toward establishing an ASEAN economic community by 2015.

ASEAN leaders hold hands for a photo session of Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit at Akasaka State Guesthouse in Tokyo on December 13, 2013. (Photo: AFP)

Addressing the forum on “The promotion of Public-Private Cooperation in the Mekong Region” on Monday in Tokyo, Japan, Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Norio Mitsuya said Japan would support a future ASEAN Community by enhancing their members’ connectivity and reducing development gaps. He said Japan's support to the Mekong region was dictated by a long-term perspective for the development of individual countries and the region at large. He hoped that economic activity and official exchanges between Japan and the region would improve as Tokyo had loosened visa requirements for all Mekong Sub-region countries last year. At an ASEAN-Japan Summit last December, Japan passed a 2 billion USD aid package for Mekong Sub-region countries. The aid package is part of the 6 billion USD that Japan pledged to provide to the countries at the 2012 Mekong-Japan Summit.