Press Release: The 2nd US – Lower Mekong Ministerial Meeting
July 22th, 2010
The 2nd US – Lower Mekong Ministerial Meeting was held on 22nd July 2010, on the sidelines of the AMM 43 with participation of the U.S Secretary of State and Foreign Ministers of Lower Mekong countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. The meeting was co - chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem and the U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The 1st US – Lower Mekong Ministerial Meeting, held on 23rd July 2009 in Thailand, established a new mechanism of cooperation among the US and Lower Mekong countries. The 2nd US – Lower Mekong Ministerial Meeting mainly reviewed the cooperation since the 1st Ministerial Meeting; enhancing multifaceted cooperation between the US and Lower Mekong countries focusing on 4 main fields: environment, health, education and infrastructure development. The Ministers also discussed on establishment of coordination mechanism to effectively accelerate the cooperation.
The meeting took note of the first step in cooperation in health, education and environmental areas; reaffirmed the determination to cooperate in infrastructure development. The Ministers valued the achievements of the “Lower Mekong Initiative Conference, Transnational Cooperation to Respond to Infectious Disease Threats” held in Hanoi 17-18 June 2010 and initial deployment of “Mekong Forecast”. At the Meeting, Secretary Clinton announced a program targeting Emerging Pandemic Threats in the region and a three-year program to assist the four Lower Mekong countries in developing cooperative strategies to address the impact of climate change on water resources, food security and livelihood.
The Ministers agreed to establish a coordinate mechanism and to hold Senior Officials’ Meeting and agree to hold the 3rd US – Lower Mekong Ministerial Meeting in 2011.
The Ministers adopted a Joint Statement reaffirming their determination on enhancing cooperation toward a sustainable development.
On this occasion, Ministers witnessed the ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for a “sister river” partnership between the Mekong River Commission and the Mississippi River Commission, reaffirming the determination of enhancing cooperation between the two Commissions./.
