Local media hail Myanmar's hosting of 4th GMS summit

Myanmar's successful hosting of the 4th Summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation (GMS) helped elevate the country's international image, local media said Wednesday. New Light of Myanmar, a daily newspaper in Yangon, hailed the country's performance during the summit as internationally eye-catching. "As the international community has acknowledged the recent reforms of Myanmar, heads of global countries have praised Myanmar for successfully hosting international-level summits," it said. "At a time when Myanmar is preparing to deepen its relations with the international community, its experiences in organizing this summit are bound to contribute a great deal to further hosting international-level summits," the newspaper said. However, it also warned of challenges ahead and called for turning the challenges into opportunities. Myanmar will host the 27th Southeast Asian Games in 2013 and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in 2014. The GMS summit, which ended Tuesday in Nay Pyi Taw, produced several significant agreements, including a new 10-year strategic framework and three memoranda of understanding on reducing HIV vulnerability, information superhighway construction, and freight transport. The GMS was founded in 1992 by the six countries sharing the Mekong River: Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.