Senior officials attend the 8th Mekong-Ganga Cooperation SOM (Source: VNA) The MGC is an initiative by six countries – India and fiveASEAN countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam forcooperation in tourism, culture, education, as well as transport andcommunications.
It was launched in 2000 in Vientiane, Laos. Both the Gangaand the Mekong are civilisational rivers, and the MGC initiative aims tofacilitate closer contacts among the people inhabiting in the two major riverbasins.
The meeting focused on reviewing the implementation of thePlan of Action proposed during the previous MGC SOM in Vientiane in July 2016as well as the achievements the two sides have made in main cooperation fields,including culture, tourism, education, health and agriculture.
Delegates highly valued the implementation of cooperationprojects among MGC countries supported by India, including the building of theAsian traditional textile museum in Siem Reap (Cambodia) and a data centre atIndia’s Nalanda University.
They agreed to carry out specific collaboration projects such as theestablishment of working groups, human resources training and tourismpromotion.
Together with existing scholarships, India vowed to present15 more scholarships to Mekong countries on new areas.
At the meeting, Assistance to Foreign Minister Vu QuangMinh, head of the Vietnamese delegation, proposed several ideas to improve theeffectiveness of the Mekong-Ganga cooperation, including encouraging theinvolvement of the private sector in cooperation projects, diversifyingbeneficiaries of the MGC scholarship programme, and strengthening cooperationin India’s strong fields like science-technology, education and human resourcesdevelopment.
The senior officials agreed to organise the 8th MGC Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting to beheld in the Philippines in August.-VNA
VNA
