Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucarrived in Hanoi on January 11 morning, wrapping up his attendance in thesecond 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 andSustainable Development”.

Participants shared the view that after two years, MLC madeimportant strides in building working mechanisms and implementing concreteprojects. 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 operatingthe MLC Special Fund.

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

The leaders adopted the Phnom Penh Declarationand the five-year MLC action plan for 2018-2022, which feature majororientations and measures for implementing cooperation in the three pillars ofsecurity-politics, economic and sustainable development, and society, cultureand people-to-people exchange.

They applauded the 214 MLC projects proposed bythe member countries and agreed to gradually expand cooperation to big projectsof the subregion on the basis of maximising the MLC Special Fund and financialsources mobilised from governments, the private sector, and internationalfinancial organisations.

They agreed to consider water resourcecooperation as a high priority area, increase cooperation in managing and usingwater resources sustainably through such activities as policy dialogue, sharinginformation and hydrological data, carrying out joint research and pilotprojects relating to water resources of the Mekong-Lancang River, andconsidering the establishment of a hotline for emergency situations.

ꦐ[Infographics: Mekong – Lancang cooperation mechanism]

Speaking at the meeting, PM Phuc affirmedVietnam’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 toincreasing cooperation in protecting, managing and using the Mekong River’swater resources in an effective and sustainable manner, thus turning waterresource cooperation into a cooperation focus of the six countries.

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

He also suggested developing completed andinterconnected infrastructure systems to facilitate the movement of goods,services, capital and people. The Mekong-Lancang countries should be assistedto 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 resourcesinto infrastructure development and creating conditions for projects to taptheir potential and strength; providing jobs for people; enhancing cooperationin researching and transferring technology to develop agriculture, especiallyhi-tech organic farming.

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

At the meeting, PM Phuc and other leadersattended a ceremony handing over the MLC co-chairmanship to Laos, a joint pressconference on the meeting’s outcomes, and a photo exhibition on Mekong-Lancangachievements.

On the sidelines of the event, PM Phuc hadworking sessions with Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Lao PM Thongloun Sisoulith, ChinesePremier Li Keqiang, and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha.-VNA