Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun has been appointed as the next CEO of the Mekong River Commission.

[ASEAN NOW]

 

Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun, a Lao native, has been named the next CEO of the Mekong River Commission (MRC).

The 3rd Riparian CEO of the MRC Secretariat, Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun of Lao nationality, was appointed by the MRC Council yesterday for the 2022–2024 term. He is the country's first Lao national to hold the job.

 

The MRC Joint Committee unanimously approved Dr. Kittikhoun's appointment following a recruiting process that began in February of this year. In January 2022, he will begin his new job.

 

Dr. Kittikhoun follows Cambodian-born Dr. An Pich Hatda, whose tenure as the MRC Secretariat's 2nd Riparian CEO expires next year. Members of the Council and MRC Development Partners praised Dr. Hatda's leadership and significant contributions to the MRC's ability to fulfill its mission.

 

"Dr. Hatda's great cooperation over the previous three years has been defined by extraordinary organizational and technical successes under difficult conditions," remarked Ms. AnnaMaria Oltorp, Chairperson of the MRC Development Partners Group.

 

The Sustainable Hydropower Development Strategy has been approved.

Meanwhile, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Council approved the much-anticipated Sustainable Hydropower Development Strategy (SHDS 2021) for the Lower Mekong Basin yesterday, one of the key deliverables of the previous Basin Development Strategy and the MRC Strategic Plan 2016–2020, to address future hydropower sustainability.

 

During the 28th conference sponsored by the Royal Government of Thailand in Bangkok in a virtual setting with other countries, water and environment ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam agreed to the strategy and other organizational norms and processes.

 

General Prawit Wongsuwon, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Chairperson of the MRC Council for 2021, commented on the strategy's ratification, saying that the new SHDS emphasizes the need to advance basin development toward results that can fulfill long-term demands.

 

"The plan is a big step forward in pushing the basin toward optimum, safe, and responsible outcomes that address the interdependencies between environmental protection, water, food, and hydropower generation," says the report.

 

Over the previous two decades, he continued, water infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric dams have had a significant influence on the Mekong River systems. The clearance will pave the stage for SHDS implementation in accordance with the MRC Strategic Plan 2021–2025, which aims to address rising risks exacerbated by climate change. It will also allow the MRC to collaborate with Member Countries on greater data and information exchange, as well as the coordination of hydropower project operations.

 

SHDS 2021 represents the completion of activities that began in 2017. In 2018, developers, academics, and civil society groups were included in the formulation process, which included an extra research on a variety of hydropower development scenarios.

 

The Council Meeting also heard a report on the MRC's financial position and implementation of the Multi-Year Work Plan 2021–2022, as well as amended Rules of Procedures for the MRC Council and Joint Committee. The summit also reviewed plans for the 4th MRC Summit and International Conference, which will be hosted by the Government of Lao PDR and will take place in April 2023.

 

Water resources and environment ministers, as well as other relevant high-level officials from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam, make up the MRC Council, which is the organization's highest level. The yearly gathering also includes representatives from the Dialogue Partners, China and Myanmar, as well as other partners.

 

Credit Source: The Laotian Times

 

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