PM urges Laos to monitor impacts of hydropower plants

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has proposed the Lao National Mekong Committee continue working with Vietnam to monitor and examine practical impacts of hydropower plants on Mekong River.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) meets with Lao Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sommad Pholsena (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has proposed the Lao National Mekong Committee continue working with Vietnam to monitor and examine practical impacts of hydropower plants on the trans-boundary river and protect its environment.

PM Phuc made the proposal while receiving Lao Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sommad Pholsena in Hanoi on December 24.

He expressed his hope that the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam and Laos will step up bilateral cooperation in the fields of natural resources and environment defined in a cooperative agreement between the two governments for the 2016-2020 period, and build coordination blueprints for the coming time.

The PM also suggested Laos and Vietnam consider the engagement in the Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes.

For his part, Minister Sommad Pholsena said Laos will apply modern technologies in waste treatment and learn experience from Vietnam to avoid environmental pollution during its development process.

He affirmed that the construction of hydropower plants on the Mekong River will strictly follow the Mekong River Commission’s regulations and international law.
Laos pledged to use effectively and sustainably its water sources, he added.

The Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam./.

VNA