Vietnam attends Ministerial Meeting in preparation for fourth MRC Summit

The Ministerial Conference was attended by representatives of member states, China and Myanmar in the role as dialogue partners, development partners, groups from international and regional organisations, as well as social and community organisations based in the Mekong basin.

At the conference, member countries discussed and agreed on the draft of the Conference’s Joint Statement draft, the Vientiane Declaration, which will be submitted to senior leaders at the fourth MRC Summit slated to take place in Vientiane in Laos on April 5.

Furthermore, the conference also assessed and recognized the results of the implementation of the 2018 Siem Reap Declaration, as well as identifying challenges and opportunities to jointly discuss directions and solutions for the effective implementation of the 1995 Mekong Agreement moving forward.

In his speech at the conference, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh stresssed that the MRC should focus on practical and breakthrough solutions aimed at protecting the legitimate rights and interests of people living on the Mekong River's water resources, as well as helping people effectively respond to emergency situations caused by natural disasters, epidemics, and other emergency situations.

It can therefore be seen as necessary to ensure that water use activities in the basin both in the main stream and tributaries must be carefully considered so as not to affect the natural flow or the development needs towards stability, safety, and security of riverside people regardless of country.

Deputy Minister Thanh also suggested that the MRC focus on renovating its operating methods to become a regional knowledge centre, providing timely information, data, and knowledge about the basin, consulting services for stakeholders and sub-regional co-operation mechanisms that are operating actively and effectively. This is along with building a data sharing system for real-time operation of water use works, along with enhancing flood and drought forecasting and warning quality, he went on to say.

Member states also applauded the efforts of the MRC in carrying out activities, whilst also raising the urgent request that the MRC be more innovative to meet requirements in the management of water resources and related resources in the region.

These innovations include innovation in cross-border co-operation, exchange of information and data, consultation, implementation of Mekong river monitoring, building of an information and data base, global data base connectivity, and application of new technologies.

At the conference, the Chinese delegation led by Yousheng Ke, diplomat and gead of the Chinese Delegation to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ESCAP, also highly appreciated the co-operation between the MRC and Mekong - Lancang Cooperation. Positive results include conducting joint research on the Mekong river flow regime, sharing information on hydrological data, and emphasizing continued commitment to co-operate with the MRC in the future.

Attending the conference, the MRC's development partners hailed the MRC's recent achievements, especially in terms of accelerating the implementation of the 1995 Mekong Agreement, procedures and technical guidelines.

Development partners therefore suggested that the MRC continue its efforts in promoting management of the basin with unified co-ordination, as well as innovation in its approach to be more proactive in adapting to challenges. Other efforts include strengthening participation of the community, stakeholders, research institutions, the private sector, and NGOs, along with promoting gender equality in the implementation of the commission's activities.

Development partners pledged to accompanying the commission to successfully implement its strategic goals towards the target for the commission to be able to autonomously carry out key activities by 2030.

The Ministerial Conference agreed on the draft Joint Statement of the fourth MRC Summit to submit to Prime Ministers at the Summit slated for April 5.