Foreign ministers' meeting calls for upgraded Lancang-Mekong cooperation
KUNMING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from six countries in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin on Friday agreed that their countries should further upgrade cooperation in the next decade to ensure peace and prosperity in the region.
All parties should be committed to an upgraded version of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) that features solidarity and cooperation, openness and win-win, green and innovation, as well as peace and tranquility, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the tenth LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Anning, Yunnan Province in southwest China.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, co-chaired the meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa. Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Myanmar's Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Than Swe, and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son attended the meeting.
Hailing the fruitful Lancang-Mekong cooperation over the past decade since the establishment of the mechanism, Wang said the LMC has entered a fast track of all-around development and has become the most dynamic and promising cooperation mechanism in the region.
In an increasingly changing and turbulent world where hegemonism and power politics prevail while unilateralism and protectionism resurge against the trend, China strongly believes that peace, development, cooperation, and win-win are the aspirations of the people and the prevailing trend, he said.
China will continue to uphold the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and bring more benefits to the Mekong countries in the process of the Chinese modernization, he said.
Wang said the six countries should strengthen high-level strategic communication, improve the LMC mechanism, and continuously deepen cooperation in key areas such as agriculture, water resources, environmental governance and connectivity.
He called for accelerating the application of science and technology to the real economy, and establishing and improving cooperation mechanisms in areas such as the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and sci-tech innovation.
The countries should facilitate cooperation in new energy, including energy storage, electric vehicles and photovoltaic power, and strengthen cooperation in customs, metrology, inspection and quarantine, to provide support for the stability of regional production and supply chains and economic integration, according to Wang.
Law enforcement cooperation should be deepened, including promoting the establishment of a cooperation platform for protecting the safety of overseas citizens, and jointly combating cross-border criminal activities such as online gambling and telecom fraud, drug manufacturing and trafficking, he said.
He urged more people-to-people exchanges, greater cooperation in higher education and vocational education, the expanded scale of Mekong countries' people coming to China for study and training, and enhanced cooperation in media and think tanks.
All parties attending the meeting spoke highly of the LMC over the past decade and the Mekong countries appreciated China's commitment to good-neighborliness and its leading role in promoting cooperation.
Given the complex and challenging international situation, the Lancang-Mekong countries should uphold solidarity and self-reliance, be open and inclusive, and closely cooperate in all fields, they said.
All parties affirmed commitment to adhering to multilateralism, maintaining free trade, combating cross-border crimes, and jointly meeting challenges to maintain regional peace, stability and prosperity.
They unanimously agreed to maintain close communication and make good preparations for the fifth LMC Leaders' Meeting to plan for the next golden decade. ■