Vientiane (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on December17 joined FMs of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and China at the fourthMekong – Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane,Laos.

Speaking at the event,Minh appreciated efforts made by MLC nations to carry out the Sanya Declarationand the five-year Plan of Action for 2018-2022 approved at the second Mekong-LancangCooperation Leaders’ Meeting in January 2018.

Cooperation betweenMekong-Lancang countries should ensure projects are inclusive and bring aboutequal benefits for all member states, while paying attention to boostingcoordination between MLC and other Mekong and regional cooperative mechanismssuch as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Mekong RiverCommission (MRC).

It is necessary toconcentrate resources on implementing the five prioritized fields which are waterresource connection, production capacity, cross-border economic collaboration,agriculture and poverty reduction, he stated, suggesting the parties addressbottlenecks in commodity circulation, work to open up the Chinese market forfarm produce from Mekong countries, help enterprises understand more about import-exportregulations, step up technology transfer to help Mekong countries develop riceand food crop varieties adaptive to climate change, and intensify managementover cross-border labour.

The Vietnamese representativealso underlined the need for the six MLC nations to reform the way of thinkingand working methods in their cooperation in the management and sustainable useof Mekong River water source so as to successfully respond to common challengesin the region.

The fourth MLC ForeignMinisters’ Meeting, themed “Enhancing Partnership for Shared Prosperity”, acknowledgedthe positive outcomes in MLC cooperation in 2018.

The ministers agreedto step up the implementation of the five-year Plan of Action, and considerinitiatives to boost cooperation in production capacity, regional connectivity,trade, energy, customs, health, education and the building of a MLC economiccorridor.

They also reached aconsensus on strengthening MCL’s connectivity with national developmentstrategies and relevant regional and sub-regional cooperative mechanisms suchas ASEAN, MRC, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and the Ayeyawady-ChaoPhraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

For Mekong River watercooperation, the delegates welcomed the agreement reached by the six countries’experts on an Action Plan on Water Resource Cooperation for 2018-2022, whileurging the countries to proactively carry out the plan.

Concluding the event,the ministers approved a joint press communiqué and agreed that the next MLCForeign Ministers’ Meeting will be held in China in 2019.-VNA