Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC)

In News

• Recently, the seventh Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in Bagan, Myanmar.

About Lancang-Mekong Cooperation

• The LMC consists of six countries: China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• Multilateral format: Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is a multilateral format established in 2016 for cooperation between the riparian states of the Lancang River and Mekong River.
  • The Lancang River originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in southwestern China. It is called the Mekong River as it flows through the other five countries before emptying into the sea.
• Purpose: The central purpose of the format is for China to manage water flow from its hydropower dams with the other riparian states.
  • As a platform for discussion and sharing ideas, it aims to push forward pragmatic projects to benefit the six countries.
  • China has built seven mega dams on the Lancang-Mekong and according to the US-based NGO International Rivers, 20 are under construction or planned in Yunnan, Tibet and Qinghai.
• LMC Special Fund: A fund was created in 2016 to aid in small and medium-sized projects by the Lancang-Mekong countries.

Significance of the meet

• Five-Year Plan of Action: The LMC foreign ministers will evaluate the progress made in the implementation of the Five-Year Plan of Action on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (2018-2022)
• They will chart future directions for broadening cooperation and further strengthening the bonds of friendship and mutual support among the countries, in the spirit of promoting socio-economic development, particularly at a time of unprecedented global threat.

Source: Print