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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the 4th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Summit. (Source: VNA) |
On the afternoon of December 25, the 4th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Summit with the theme "Joining hands to build a community of shared future and modernization among Mekong-Lancang countries" was held online.
The conference was attended by the Prime Ministers and Heads of Delegations from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivered an important speech at the conference.
The conference focused on evaluating the results of Mekong-Lancang cooperation over the past three years and discussing directions for the coming period.
The Leaders emphasized the important contributions of the MLC to peace, cooperation and development in the Mekong sub-region and the region, and affirmed to continue to coordinate closely and together build a Community of shared future of peace and prosperity among the Mekong-Lancang countries.
The Leaders highly appreciated the important results achieved by the six countries since the third MLC Summit (August 2020). Over the past three years, despite being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the six countries have actively and effectively implemented the MLC Action Plan for the period 2018-2022, especially in five priority areas (including connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economy, water resource management, agriculture and poverty reduction).
The Leaders welcomed the many advances in cooperation on water resources and environment, especially in sharing annual hydrological data of the Mekong-Lancang River, and conducting joint research on flood forecasting and natural disaster prevention.
A series of programs and activities on people-to-people exchange, educational and training cooperation, and tourism promotion were successfully organized, contributing to strengthening the friendship and mutual understanding among the people of the six countries. The Leaders highly appreciated the implementation of more than 300 technical assistance projects with financial support from the Mekong-Lancang Special Fund, bringing practical results to the people.
Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, the Leaders emphasized the motto of prioritizing development, taking people as the center, harmonizing people and nature, and taking innovation as the driving force for development. Along with promoting existing cooperation programs and plans, the Leaders agreed to study and expand to new areas, promote cooperation towards high quality, modernization, create new momentum for sub-regional cooperation, and support countries to recover and develop their economies sustainably.
The conference agreed to promote cooperation to jointly build the Mekong-Lancang Economic Development Belt; study the possibility of establishing a meeting mechanism, coordinating policies, and implementing projects to promote the Mekong-Lancang Innovation Corridor to seize development opportunities from scientific and technological advances.
The conference agreed to strengthen cooperation in digital transformation, smart customs, smart borders and smart connectivity; clean energy transformation, green agriculture, climate change response, and biodiversity. The leaders emphasized the priority of cooperation in the management and sustainable use of natural resources, especially the Mekong River water resources through cooperation in sharing hydrological data and information, minimizing natural disaster risks, and improving water resources management capacity.
The Leaders supported efforts to enhance coordination and harmonious complementarity between the MLC and ASEAN, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as other sub-regional and regional cooperation mechanisms and initiatives.
At the end of the Conference, the Leaders adopted the Nay Pyi Taw Declaration, the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Action Plan for the 2023-2027 period and the Mekong-Lancang Innovation Corridor Initiative.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks. (Source: VNA) |
Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the Mekong-Lancang cooperation has become an important mechanism connecting the Mekong countries and China, a model of cooperation for mutual development and win-win. Over the past seven years of establishment and development, the MLC has achieved outstanding achievements with three major features: the cooperation mechanism is increasingly perfected; the content is increasingly substantive; the friendship and mutual understanding among the people of the six countries is increasingly profound.
The Prime Minister affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always attaches importance to and will continue to work with China and Mekong countries to promote Mekong-Lancang cooperation to develop increasingly strongly, effectively and sustainably.
The Prime Minister believes that, in the face of rapid and profound changes in the world economy, in order for the six Mekong-Lancang countries to rise strongly, a new, more comprehensive mindset is needed, along with a whole-people, whole-region, global approach and new, drastic, creative, and breakthrough solutions. With this viewpoint, the Prime Minister proposed three priorities for the MLC in the coming period, including:
Firstly, building a modern and developed Mekong-Lancang region, with the motto of unblocking, mobilizing and effectively using resources; promoting all potentials and strengths of each country as well as of all six countries; considering internal strength as fundamental and strategic and external strength as important and breakthrough. The key task is to promote industrialization and modernization, building independent and self-reliant Mekong-Lancang economies associated with proactive and active international integration that is deep, substantial and effective.
Accordingly, Mekong-Lancang cooperation needs to: (i) Make innovation, science and technology the focus of cooperation, focusing on supporting basic industries, gradually transforming from processing and assembling to research, design and production, applying new technologies in industrial and agricultural production; (ii) Promote digital transformation through cooperation on digital infrastructure, digital human resources, digital security and digital economy; (iii) Encourage the participation of development partners and the business community in the spirit of "harmonized benefits, shared risks"; (iv) Cooperate on transportation, especially high-speed rail connection, and research on payment mechanisms in local currencies.
Second, build a green, sustainable and inclusive Mekong-Lancang region, ensuring harmony between the present and the future, between economic growth and environmental protection, with people at the center, the subject, the driving force, the resource and the goal of development, leaving no one behind. The immediate priority is to support countries in implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and commitments to reduce carbon emissions towards building a green, circular economy.
At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen basin-wide cooperation in ecological environment conservation, natural disaster prevention, effective, sustainable, equitable and reasonable management and use of the Mekong-Lancang River, especially without changing the natural flow of the river. Towards a better future for the people, the six countries need to prioritize investment in human development, build inclusive education and health systems, support the young workforce to access modern science and technology, and create conditions for all people to benefit from the development process.
Third, build a peaceful and cooperative Mekong-Lancang region. The six countries need to continuously strengthen trust, sincerity, solidarity, promote common interests and uphold multilateralism; enhance complementarity between Mekong-Lancang cooperation with ASEAN and other regional and sub-regional cooperation mechanisms to use resources most effectively, create resonance and spread benefits. Affirm support for Laos to successfully assume the role of ASEAN Chair 2024. At the same time, it is necessary to prioritize cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchange, especially among the younger generation.
The assessments and proposals of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh were highly appreciated by the Conference and included in the Conference documents.
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