Vietnam always treasures and has made significant contributions to the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) in the past year, affirmed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc while attending the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on January 10.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Stressing the important principals of the cooperation for the socio-economic development of member states as well as regional peace, stability and prosperity, the Vietnamese leader underlined stronger collaboration in effective and sustainable management and use of Mekong water resources.

Overriding priorities should be given to hydro-meteorological statistics and information sharing, cooperation in response to droughts and floods and joint scientific research to construct reservoirs along the Mekong River as well as infrastructure development to facilitate flows of commodities, services and capital, and local people’s travel, he noticed.

It is necessary to support member states to take advantages of the fourth industrial revolution to promote their industrialisation process, he said, adding that efforts should be made to develop high-quality human resources, enhance research and technology transfer in agriculture, especially hi-tech organic development.

With the theme of “Our River of Peace and Sustainable Development”, the meeting drew the participation of leaders from six members: Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

At the event, they reaffirmed the goal of building a Mekong-Lancang region of peace, stability, sustainable development and prosperity. They reached consensus that the MLC should contribute more to promoting regional socio-economic development, narrowing development gap among member states and supporting the ASEAN Community building.

The mechanism must be in harmony with programmes and plans like the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, the Initiative for ASEAN Integration, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and many other regional connectivity initiatives.

The leaders adopted Phnom Penh statement and MLC action plan during 2018-2022 with measures to realise cooperation in three pillars: security-politics; economy and sustainable development; society, culture and people-to-people exchange.

They hailed 214 projects proposed by MLC members and agreed to enhance cooperation in management and sustainable use of water resources via an array of activities, including policy dialogue, hydro-meteorological statistics and information sharing, technical cooperation, joint research and pilot projects related to Mekong water.

Also, they consented to step up environment collaboration, especially in minimising environmental risks in economic activities.

The MLC is a sub-regional cooperation mechanism that was jointly established in 2016 by six countries along the Mekong River, namely Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The biennial MLC Leaders’ Meeting is organised in rotation among the member countries. This year’s event is co-organised by Cambodia and China. 

Prime Minister concludes trip to attend Mekong-Lancang summit

Leaders of the six countries of the Mekong-Lancang cooperation pose for a photo 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived in Hanoi on January 11 morning, wrapping up his attendance in the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Leaders’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at the invitation of his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.

The meeting was themed “Our River of Peace and Sustainable Development”.

Participants shared the view that after two years, MLC made important strides in building working mechanisms and implementing concrete projects. Some outstanding outcomes include implementing 130 projects, completing many “Early Harvest” projects, setting up centres for environmental, water resource and Mekong research cooperation, and establishing and operating the MLC Special Fund.

In terms of future cooperation, the leaders reaffirmed the goal of building a Mekong-Lancang region of peace, stability, sustainable development and prosperity. They agreed that MLC needs to contribute more actively to the region’s socio-economic development, narrow the development gap among the member countries, assist the building of the ASEAN Community, and cooperate with other mechanisms like the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Mekong River Commission.

The leaders adopted the Phnom Penh Declaration and the five-year MLC action plan for 2018-2022, which feature major orientations and measures for implementing cooperation in the three pillars of security-politics, economic and sustainable development, and society, culture and people-to-people exchange.

They applauded the 214 MLC projects proposed by the member countries and agreed to gradually expand cooperation to big projects of the subregion on the basis of maximising the MLC Special Fund and financial sources mobilised from governments, the private sector, and international financial organisations.

They agreed to consider water resource cooperation as a high priority area, increase cooperation in managing and using water resources sustainably through such activities as policy dialogue, sharing information and hydrological data, carrying out joint research and pilot projects relating to water resources of the Mekong-Lancang River, and considering the establishment of a hotline for emergency situations.

Speaking at the meeting, PM Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s attachment of importance and contribution to MLC over the past years. In terms of cooperation in the next five years, he called for more attention to increasing cooperation in protecting, managing and using the Mekong River’s water resources in an effective and sustainable manner, thus turning water resource cooperation into a cooperation focus of the six countries.

Priorities in the short term should include increasing sharing information and hydro-meteorological statistics, cooperating in response to drought and flood, conducting joint scientific studies, and considering the building of regulations on inter-reservoir operations along the Lancang-Mekong River, the Vietnamese leader said.

He also suggested developing completed and interconnected infrastructure systems to facilitate the movement of goods, services, capital and people. The Mekong-Lancang countries should be assisted to make use of opportunities from Industry 4.0 through sharing experience, knowledge and technology to promote industrialisation in the member nations; developing businesses and training skillful labourers; attracting resources into infrastructure development and creating conditions for projects to tap their potential and strength; providing jobs for people; enhancing cooperation in researching and transferring technology to develop agriculture, especially hi-tech organic farming.

Vietnam’s proposals and contributions were shown in the meeting’s documents and highly valued by the member countries.

At the meeting, PM Phuc and other leaders attended a ceremony handing over the MLC co-chairmanship to Laos, a joint press conference on the meeting’s outcomes, and a photo exhibition on Mekong-Lancang achievements.

On the sidelines of the event, PM Phuc had working sessions with Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Lao PM Thongloun Sisoulith, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha.

VNA