Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead a Vietnamese delegation to attend the third Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia on April 4-5.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc

The attendance will come at the invitation of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen.

The 4.800km - long Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its basin spreads over 795.000 square kilometers with 65 million people in the four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. 

The Mekong Committee was established in 1956 under the auspices of the United Nations to coordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin.

In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River and set up the Mekong River Commission (MRC) as a replacement for the Mekong Committee.

The MRC decided to hold its summit every four years, starting from 2010.

The first MRC summit took place in Hua Hin, Thailand in April 2010 while the second was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in April 2014.

The third MRC Summit is themed “Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong”.-VNA