7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Meeting to begin in Bagan
The 7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting begins today in Bagan, Myanmar.
Including China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, LMC is a multilateral cooperation group that oversees transboundary water management in the Mekong. During the meeting, the foreign ministers will evaluate the progress of the Five-Year Plan of Action on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and unveil the LMC National Coordination Unit building in Myanmar.
The meeting coincides with the visit of ASEAN’s special envoy and Cambodian Foreign Minister–Prak Sokhonn. During this second visit to Myanmar as the special ASEAN envoy, Sokhoon will meet with the junta government to discuss the ASEAN approach to Myanmar’s current situation.
Expect a return to the normalization of collaboration with the junta government considering continued talks on transboundary hydropower projects in the Mekong. Although international criticism for the junta government remains, the international preoccupation with the Russia-Ukraine conflict has left the junta government’s actions unchecked. This will likely lead China and Myanmar to resume halted BRI hydropower projects in the country, leaving little hope for conservation of the Mekong River.
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