Inception (1990 - 1991)

1990 - The idea of developing the Tumen area to a golden triangle proposed at the Conference on Northeast Asian Economic and Technical Cooperation, held in Jilin Province, China;

1991 - UNDP proposed financial support to a technical cooperation programme to promote economic cooperation in the Tumen River area; it was accepted by the countries, initiating the preparatory processes of the Tumen River Area Development Programme (TRADP) - predecessor of GTI.

TRADP (1991 - 2005)

1991 - TRADP launched by UNDP as a regional cooperation programme.

1995 - Initial five member countries (China, DPRK, Mongolia, ROK & Russia) signed agreements on the establishment of the TRADP Consultative Commission to officially launch the intergovernmental mechanism.

1998 - Tumen Secretariat founded in Beijing under the UNDP.

2005 - Member countries extended the 1995 Agreements for the next phase with commitment to greater member ownership and a vision for an enhanced and expanded self-reliant intergovernmental economic cooperation mechanism; TRADP was renamed as the GTI with an expanded geographic coverage to the Greater Tumen Region, and the five priority sectors (transport, tourism, energy, investment & environment) were identified for future cooperation.

GTI (2006 – present)

2007 – 2010: Intergovernmental Boards/ Committees in the five sectors (Transport Board, Tourism Board, Trade Facilitation Committee, Energy Board and Environmental Board) were created to institutionalize operations of GTI in these sectors and coordinate specific sectoral cooperation activities and projects.

2008 - GTI Common Fund, contributed by the member countries, was created as a UNDP Trust Fund to finance the operation of the GTI Secretariat.

2010 - The process of transforming the GTI towards becoming an independent legal entity is initiated.

2011 - NEA Local Cooperation Committee was established among NEA local governments to strengthen regional economic cooperation at local governments’ level and enhance coordination between central - local governments.

2012 - The Association of GTI EXIM Banks was created as a regional development financing mechanism to support future projects.

2013 - The Inaugural meeting of the GTI NEA Local Cooperation Committee was held.

2014 - The Inaugural meeting of the NEA EXIM Banks Association was held.

2016 – Another expansion of GTI’s institutional structure took place: creation and inauguration of new sectoral committee and affiliated body under GTI - GTI Agriculture Committee and GTI Research Institutions Network.

Transition to an independent organization (2010-present)

2010 - The process of transforming the GTI towards becoming an independent organisation started.

2012 – Member states reviewed progress in transferring the GTI into a legally independent entity, and agreed on actions to expedite the transition process.

2013 – GTI Members endorsed the Roadmap with indicative timelines to guide the transition process.

2014 - The Members endorsed the Concept Paper on Legal Transition, and directed National Coordinators (NCs) and the GTI Secretariat to implement the concrete steps stipulated in the transition roadmap.

2015 – General consensus on the agreement on the GTI’s legal transition is achieved among member states and detailed discussion of relevant documents is under way.