China key contributor to green, sustainable development in Lancang-Mekong countries: Cambodian official, expert

PHNOM PENH, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China has been a key supporter of water governance and green and sustainable development in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) countries, a Cambodian official and an expert said on Monday.

The LMC consists of six countries, namely China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

So Sophort, secretary general of the Cambodia National Mekong Committee, said the regional cooperation between China and the Mekong countries, including Cambodia, is well progressive.

"All the LMC countries have exchanged and shared with each other the water resources development and management experience and continue to work together to further strengthen and enhance water resources cooperation and management of the Lancang-Mekong River Basin," he told Xinhua.

"Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and in the cooperation frameworks of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the LMC, China has always shown its stronger commitment and confirmed its full support, deepening cooperation on transboundary water governance for the more sustainable development and management of the Lancang-Mekong River Basin," he said.

Sophort said all the riparian countries acknowledge that the stronger synergy between LMC and MRC as well as others concerned is a key contributor toward achieving shared prosperity and a sustainable future in the riparian countries and improving the basin peoples' well-being.

"The stronger regional cooperation has yielded fruitful and better outcomes in deepening the regional economic integration, and achieving an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development and growth in the Lancang-Mekong region," he said.

"It has been done through win-win cooperation and this has been seen through the application of action-and-outcomes-oriented approaches," he added.

Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Asian Vision Institute's Mekong Center for Strategic Studies, said China is a key contributor to water resources development and environmental protection in the Lancang-Mekong River.

"China has always shared year-round accurate hydrological data with the Mekong countries, which has contributed to better river monitoring and flood and drought forecasting in the Mekong countries," he told Xinhua.

He said China has also provided urgent information on any unusual rise or fall in water levels and discharges, as well as other relevant information on factors that might lead to sudden flooding in the lower reaches of the basin.

"The cooperation between China and the Lancang-Mekong countries under the BRI and the LMC has provided tremendous opportunities and benefits to the Lancang-Mekong countries in their socio-economic development and poverty reduction," Mengdavid said.

He said the support from China has been transforming the Lancang-Mekong region into a region of peace, stability, green and sustainable development, and prosperity.

"China and the Mekong countries' close cooperation is essential to enhance the well-being of the people, narrow the development gap within the region, and build a community with a shared future of peace and prosperity among Lancang-Mekong countries," he said.

Originating from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in southwest China, the river is called the Lancang River in China, and the Mekong River when flows through the other five countries before emptying into the sea.