The Lancang - Mekong River originates from the Tanggula Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China, flowing north-south through the inland region of Southwest China and the countries of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It is the only large river in Asia with the geographical characteristic of "a river connecting six countries".
The people of the six countries along the Lancang and Mekong Rivers have settled adjacently, shared fate, shared humanity, had deep friendship, drank from the same river, and had closely linked destinies. This is a vivid demonstration of the unity and harmonious coexistence of the people of the six countries.
On March 23, 2016, the leaders gathered in China and jointly announced the launch of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism, deciding to join hands to build a more closely-knit Community of Common Destiny and make greater contributions to the development of the sub-region.
Time flies, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has gone through seven extraordinary years.
Over the past seven years, the six countries have built a Lancang-Mekong layout with “Leader-led, multi-field and multi-sector participation”, ChinesePresident Xi Jinping and the leaders of the countries along the Mekong River have maintained regular contact, providing strategic guidance for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation.
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| The 7th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting took place in Bagan, Myanmar, on July 4, 2022. (Source: VGP) |
Under the framework of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, three Summits and seven Foreign Ministers' Meetings have been held in rotation in six countries, discussing measures to develop the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, identifying three major pillars: political security, economic and sustainable development, and humane society, creating a Lancang-Mekong speed of "daily progress, monthly achievements, and yearly reaching new heights", promoting the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism to become increasingly in-depth and substantive.
Over the past seven years, the six countries have upheld the Lancang-Mekong concept of “development first, equal treatment, practicality and high efficiency, openness and inclusiveness”, effectively implemented the “5-year Action Plan for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (2018-2022)”, and steadily promoted cooperation in five major areas: connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economy, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction. The joint working group on priority areas and the Lancang-Mekong Center for Cooperation and Exchange of Water Resources, Environment, Agriculture and Youth have operated effectively, and more than 600 Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund projects have been implemented one after another, adding strong momentum to economic development and improving people's livelihood in the countries.
Over the past seven years, the six countries have promoted the Lancang-Mekong culture of “treating equally, helping sincerely, and being close as one family”, actively implemented the programs “Traditional Medicine Benefits the Lancang-Mekong”, “Lancang-Mekong Harvest”, “Green Lancang-Mekong Program”, “Lancang-Mekong Sweet Stream Action Program”, and through flexible and diverse methods have carried out cultural, artistic and tourism cooperation, focused on organizing a series of activities such as consultation forums, film and television screenings, media coordination and investigative interviews, etc., and built activities such as the Film Week, Cultural Festival, Women's Forum, and Lancang-Mekong Chinese and foreign youth friendship exchange activities, promoted humanistic exchange and learning measures, and created a model of international cooperation.
Today, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has developed into an important sub-regional cooperation mechanism and is a “golden example” guiding action, improving people’s livelihood, developing in a concentrated manner, strongly promoting sustainable development of related countries, helping to narrow the development gap in the region, contributing the strength of the Lancang-Mekong to the development of the East Asia region as well as the Asia-Pacific region, fully demonstrating that the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is the right choice in line with the development trend of the times, in line with the needs of countries in the region.
Vietnam is an important country in the Lancang-Mekong basin, a friendly neighbor and a comprehensive strategic cooperative partner of China. Under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two Parties, China-Vietnam relations have maintained a positive momentum of development, and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has increasingly become a new bright spot in expanding regional cooperation between the two countries.
The two countries actively promoted the strategic connection between the “Belt and Road” initiative and the “Two Corridors, One Belt” initiative, maintained the momentum of economic and trade investment development, stabilized and smoothed the industrial chain and supply chain, and bilateral trade turnover grew up to 234.9 billion USD. The two countries strengthened infrastructure connection, and the cross-border railway took a new step forward, organically connecting with the “New Land and Sea Corridor” as well as the “China-Europe Express Train”.
The two countries actively carry out water resources cooperation, timely share river and hydrological information, and jointly promote the construction of a platform for information sharing on Lancang-Mekong water resources cooperation. Through scientific coordination of the Lancang River Hydropower Plant, China has fully played the role of "coordinating rich water resources to supplement arid areas", making positive contributions to helping downstream countries prevent floods and droughts and maintain food security.
The two countries are making great efforts to expand people-to-people cooperation, and have signed the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund project in three rounds worth nearly 4.7 million USD, investing precisely in projects that benefit the people such as improving infrastructure, border trade, agricultural production, skills training, etc., making practical contributions to the sustainable socio-economic development of the locality.
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| Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (left) meets with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting in July 2022 in Bagan, Myanmar. (Photo: TG&VN) |
The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is about to enter its eighth year. Faced with the complex and volatile international and regional situation and the extremely difficult task of economic recovery and development, the six countries need to be more steadfast in their determination to be neighborly and friendly, persistently and persistently cooperate for mutual benefit, join hands to build a high-quality “Belt and Road” Model Zone, a Global Development Initiative Pilot Zone, a Global Security Initiative Experimental Zone, build a more sustainable Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt, and build a more closely-knit Lancang-Mekong Community of Common Destiny.
China is willing to work with the Lancang-Mekong countries, taking the important high-level consensus as a guide, to continuously improve the “3+5+X” framework of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, firmly implement the six measures to benefit the countries along the Mekong River, continuously improve the efficiency of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund, focus on cooperation in key areas such as agriculture, water resources, digital economy, talent training, public health, etc., soon adopt the new five-year cooperation program of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, firmly promote the organic connection between the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the priority areas of ASEAN Community building and China-ASEAN Cooperation, and join hands to open up a better future for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, so that the rich fruits of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation will bring more benefits to the people of the six countries.
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