AKP Phnom Penh, January 10, 2018 —The 2nd Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Leaders’ Meeting began here this afternoon at the Peace Palace, Phnom Penh, under the theme of “Our River of Peace and Sustainable Development”.
The meeting was co-chaired by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia and his Chinese counterpart H.E. Li Keqiang with the participation of Lao Prime Minister H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith, Myanmar Vice President H.E. Myint Swe, Thai Prime Minister H.E. Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, and Vietnamese Prime Minister H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The six MLC leaders will discuss key issues to develop the Mekong sub-region with strong focus on the commitment to maintain peace, stability, sustainable development and prosperity of the Mekong sub-region.
The MLC Leaders’ Meeting will also stress the importance of the socio-economic development of sub-regional countries in terms of enhancing the well-being of their people, narrowing the development gap among countries in support of the ASEAN Community building as well as advancing South-South cooperation to further contribute to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Four documents – Phnom Penh Declaration of the Second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting, Five-Year Action Plan of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation 2018-2022, Joint List of 2nd Batch of Cooperation Projects, and Reports of the Six Joint Working Groups of Priority Areas – are expected to be adopted on the occasion.
MLC will help bringing ASEAN’s older and newer members closer in terms of economy, politics, culture and religion said H.E. Sok Siphana, Government Advisor and Senior Official of Cambodia for MLC, at a press conference after the 6th MLC Senior Officials’ Meeting held here yesterday.
MLC will determine the scope of potential relations and cooperation between the five ASEAN countries along the Mekong River and China, which will contribute to narrowing the development gap between the ASEAN’s older and newer members, he added.
The 3rd MLC Leaders’ Meeting will be hosted by Lao PDR.
LMC was launched in 2015, and its first leaders’ meeting took place in March 2016 in the Chinese province of Hainan. This summit was based on three pillars – political and security issues, economic and sustainable development and socio-cultural issues. There are also five key priority areas – connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources and agriculture and poverty reduction.
By Khan Sophirom
