Lancang-Mekong Cooperation turned into "golden model" of regional cooperation: Chinese FM

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin attend a joint press conference following the seventh Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bagan, Myanmar, July 4, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Dongqiang)

BAGAN, Myanmar, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) has been turned into a "golden model" of regional cooperation six years after it was launched with fruitful results.

During a joint press conference with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin, which was held following the seventh LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting earlier in the day in Bagan, Myanmar, Wang said the six countries along the Lancang-Mekong river will continue to treat each other on an equal footing and cooperate closely to promote development and work for the upgrading of the LMC mechanism.

Wang said a host of new cooperation consensus has been achieved at the foreign ministers' meeting.

First, the meeting set future directions for the LMC cooperation, namely, enhancing strategic guidance, deepening economic integration, expanding agricultural cooperation, upholding green development, promoting digital cooperation, and maintaining closer people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Second, the meeting announced six plans to be implemented in the next stage for the LMC cooperation, which include an action plan on Lancang-Mekong agricultural cooperation, a beneficial plan on Lancang-Mekong water resources, a cooperation plan on Lancang-Mekong digital economy, a Lancang-Mekong space cooperation plan, a Lancang-Mekong talent plan, and a Lancang-Mekong public health cooperation plan.

Third, the meeting endorsed the Five-Year Plan of Action on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (2023-2027) and issued documents including a joint press communique and joint statements on deepening customs-trade security and customs clearance facilitation, agricultural cooperation and the guarantee of food security, disaster management cooperation, and cultural exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

Wang said China will continue to pursue a neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and is ready to share the dividends of cooperation with Mekong countries, so as to add more vitality and dynamics to the LMC and create a better future for the people of regional countries.