It is a MRC ministerial level meeting which is held annually by the country holding the MRC Council chairmanship.
The event saw the participation of 120 delegates from the four MRC Council state members, including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, in addition to the MRC Dialogue Partners of China and Myanmar and 25 MRC Development Partners.
The meeting was presided over by Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Ha, cum Chairman of the MRC Council for the 2018 tenure.
Chairman Ha affirmed that the MRC Council has undertaken its mission towards the socio-economic development of its member countries over the past two decades, through the efforts of its member countries and the support of its Development Partners, Dialogue Partners and other related parties.
While the Dialogue Partners have played a vital role in the management of water resources across the Mekong Basin, the Development Partners have provided substantial financial and technical support for the MRC to implement the tasks in the MRC Strategic Plan, the minister said.
The 25th meeting of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Council reviewed the operations of the MRC Council in 2018, put forth plans for 2019, provided a mid-term assessment on the MRC Strategic Plan 2016-2020, and reviewed the progress of the Pak Beng hydropower project.
Within the framework of the MRC Council meeting, meetings between the MRC Council and its Development Partners and Dialogue Partners were also held, under which the MRC partners affirmed their willingness to continue their cooperation with the MRC in the future.
At the meeting, the European Union pledged to fund EUR4.82 million for the commission’s operation in the 2016-2020 period and the German Government pledged to finance EUR4 million to the MRC to promote cross-border partnerships in water resources in the Mekong River basin in the 2019-2021 period.
