The First Trans-Himalaya Development Forum was recently held in Mangshi, Yunnan. The conference was attended by representatives, experts and scholars from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and China.

Built around Trans-Himalaya development and cooperation as well as the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, experts and scholars from the eight countries reached consensus on five core principles. According to Hu Shisheng, director and researcher of the Institute of South Asian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, the entire Himalayan region is still the least developed area in Asia. The development of this region is of great significance for the development of Asia, and the rest of the world. Thus, China must act as a major driving force in Trans-Himalaya development and cooperation; while Yunnan province may well develop into the main impetus and leader in future Trans-Himalaya cooperation between the eight countries.

At the conference, it was agreed that the Trans-Himalaya region does not have to start from scratch in its development, but instead can build on the many cooperative mechanisms already in place. Nevertheless, Trans-Himalaya development and cooperation still has some bottlenecks, including the tangible constraints of a complicated natural environment, outmoded infrastructure systems, non-traditional security threats, the intangible interference of incompatible systems, geopolitical issues and traditional mind-sets. The Trans-Himalaya Development Forum is committed to breaking regional development bottlenecks and proposing new policies to the governments of the eight different countries on meaningful regional cooperation. In the future, the Trans-Himalaya Development Forum will be held on a regular basis either in Dehong, Yunnan, China or in other countries on a rotating basis.

Experts agreed that the theme of “seeking cooperation and development through communication, and promoting regional stability through cooperation and development” is very instructive for the Trans-Himalaya region. Unrest in the region is closely related to the low level of economic development and a lack of communication and understanding between people. More physical interconnection, mechanism docking and people- to-people exchanges will lead to more understanding between different countries in the region. This in turn will reduce geopolitical interference and provide more favourable conditions for the peaceful settlement of various disputes. Therefore, regional stability can not only be expected but also guaranteed. The Trans-Himalaya Development Forum is committed to promoting open and inclusive regional cooperation and development as well as enhancing mutual trust among peoples and countries in the region.