Viet Nam attends 12th MGC Ministerial Meeting
VGP - The 12th Mekong - Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Ministerial Meeting was held on Sunday in virtual format with the participation of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and India.
Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and other members of the Vietnamese delegation attended the 12th MGC Ministerial Meeting via videoconference on July 16. Photo: VNA.
At the meeting, participants noted that for more than 20 years since its inception, the MGC has helped reinforce friendship, promote socio-economic development, and narrow the development gap among the member countries.
Additionally, it contributes to building the ASEAN Community and realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
The Mekong countries appreciated India's financial aid for 105 projects on reducing poverty in remote areas, supplying clean water, and building cultural houses in rural areas under the Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) program, including 46 projects in Viet Nam.
Discussing the MGC orientations for the coming time, the ministers agreed to focus on trade and investment facilitation, connectivity enhancement, education, sustainable management of transboundary water resources, science and technology, agriculture, health care, culture, and tourism.
They highly valued and approved India's initiative to set up a mechanism for coordinating the MGC sectoral cooperation and an MGC business council to encourage enterprises' contributions and boost substantive cooperation, thereby generating benefits for people and businesses.
The officials agreed to extend the MGC Plan of Action 2019 - 2022 until the end of 2024 and to hold the 13th MGC Ministerial Meeting in 2024.
Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the meeting.
In his remarks, Bui affirmed the importance Viet Nam attaches to and its influential contributions to the MGC. He also emphasized the Mekong - Ganga Cooperation (MGC) should prioritize assisting member countries to improve their competitiveness and obtain sustainable development.
Regarding future cooperation measures, he said that first, economic connectivity between the Mekong countries and India should be enhanced to boost recovery and sustainable growth through facilitating cross-border trade, and investment opportunities, to name but a few.
Second, the member countries should guarantee a green and sustainable future for the next generations via cooperation in response to food, water, and energy security challenges; transferring technology and investing in clean and renewable energy; and mobilizing resources for supporting the energy transition.
Third, the member countries should increase people-to-people exchanges to help strengthen their friendship and partnerships, said Bui.
Notably, the minister called for boosting cooperation in education and vocational training to help meet the enormous demand for high-quality human resources, and expanding tourism links, especially in culinary and wedding tourism, to help recover the economies.
Besides, he asked India to continue assisting the Mekong countries to preserve UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage elements.
The Vietnamese official also proposed joint activities to mark the MGC's 25th anniversary in 2025./.
