Subregionální spolupráce v povodí Mekongu: program GMS

The main focus of this bachelor thesis is the cooperation between the subregions of Southeast Asian countries situated on the river Mekong. The objective of the resesarch is to display subregional cooperation in this particular area and its impact on the development of these areas. Effectivity of subregional cooperation in this part of Southeast Asia has been discovered within the case study aimed to the program of the Asian Development Bank named Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). From the analysis of the indicators which are maping not only the econommical status but also standard of living conditions the big improvement has been made within last 20 years. Rising integration in the subregion leads to improvement of the infrastructure and effectivity of manufacturing processes which led to engagement of these countries on world markets and the intensity of intraregional trade growth. Opening the borders for easier movement of the goods, capital and people has its downs for instance the increase of criminality around the border areas. However, the criticism of subregional cooperation which compares them to confusing mixture of initiatives in the case of GMS program, the form of cooperation seems to be effective for several reasons: its based on cooperatiom on the local level which leds to bigger consequences towards the general standards of living, cooperation is mainly managed by the market and therefore is not so demanding for institutionslization and involvement of the government which is mainly beneficial for countries with weaker government sector.