Vietnam works on Mekong river basin strategy action plan

The Vietnam National Mekong Committee (VMC) held a seminar in Hanoi on October 10 on building a national action plan to implement the Mekong River basin development strategy.

Participants at the event agreed that the long-term goal of the strategy is to strengthen the general management of water resources in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands regions and create a legal and technical framework for cooperation within the Mekong Commission.

They suggested that in the short term, Vietnam should define issues of its concern to work out projects for assisting national policies and strategies as well as update scenarios for the basin development.

The VMC highlighted the 10V sub-region, known as the Mekong Delta and 7V sub-region, including Se San – Srepok river basins. Both of them have a strategically important position in national socio-economic development and political security, as well as promote cooperation with the Mekong Commission member countries.

The committee also proposed projects for the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands regions with different goals, towards the sustainable development of water resources at national and basin levels.

The 4,800 km Mekong river originates from Tibet , running through China , Myanmar , Laos , Thailand , Cambodia and Vietnam . The Mekong river basin covers an area of 795,000 sq. km and is home to 60 million people, including 20 million living in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and Central Highlands regions.