PM satisfied with results of Mekong management initiative



BANGKOK, 24 March 2016 (NNT) – The Prime Minister has expressed satisfaction with preliminary work to manage the Mekong River better.

On the first day of the 1st Mekong-Lanchang Cooperation leaders’ summit, Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha addressed the leaders of the 4 nations of the Mekong River, giving a speech under the summit’s theme of “Shared River, Shared Future”.

Speaking before representatives from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar, the prime minister stated that all the countries must work together towards sustainable management of the Mekong’s waters, especially to remedy the issue of drought, which greatly impacts agriculture.

The premier expressed satisfaction that an initiative from Thailand has led to the establishment of a framework for joint drought and flood management, which has also garnered support from China.

He assured Thailand would continue to push the initiative, especially in aspects that can yield concrete results in the next 1-2 years as they fit with the Thai government’s reform roadmap.


-- NNT 2016-03-24

A lot of Thailand's share of the river looks like a large building site. I don't think they will be happy until the entire length is lined with brutal concrete walkways. Huge channels diverting water inland are also being dug in many places. Humans are a plague who cause death and destruction to the planet at an ever faster rate year on year.

The picture looks like a police identity parade;

"now then, Madam, can you recognise any of these men as the one who stole your country?"

A lot of Thailand's share of the river looks like a large building site. I don't think they will be happy until the entire length is lined with brutal concrete walkways. Huge channels diverting water inland are also being dug in many places. Humans are a plague who cause death and destruction to the planet at an ever faster rate year on year.

I agree, They have taken away all the sandy beach like areas and ruined what was once an enjoyable place. The already very high banks made flooding in those sandy areas virtually impossible so why have they really done it?

Looks like the photo has been shopped.

1st Mekong-Lanchang Cooperation leaders’ summit

So the PM is satisfied with the results as if he had made any worthy contribution to the initative?

He can certainly be granted his contribution of a self-edifying speech.

But the fact is that the development of the Meking watershed basin has been in planning for decades. Prayut is merely building on the backs of cooperation by the previous governments of the four riparian nations (Thailand, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Vietnam), China, Japan, NGOs and international aid organizations.

Just to recap some of the history:

In 1951 the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East conceived a grand scheme for Mekong development which eventually led to the establishment in 1957 of the Mekong Committee to coordinate the investigations of the lower part of this important river basin. The members of this Committee included Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The four lower riparian countries signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin on 5 April 1995 in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

The first Greater Mekong Subregional summit was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 3 November 2002. Then followed by a GMS Ministerial conference held in Dali City, Yunnan province, China on 17-19 September 2003. There was then a Second GMS Summit convened in Kunming, China in July 2005.

Hopefully, Prayut will continue Thailand's equal partnership in GMS and not insist that Thailand be the Hub of the Mekong.

Well, last week the Vietnamese complained that the Thais were "stealing" too much water from the Mekong!

The picture looks like a police identity parade;

"now then, Madam, can you recognise any of these men as the one who stole your country?"

Or part of a game show:

"Ok, now let's see which is one it is, would the the real Dr.No step forward please?"