Mississippi advice for the Mekong
A HIGH-LEVEL delegation from the Mississippi River Commission led by its president, Maj-General Michael Wehr, will visit the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and its members this week, according to an MRC statement issued Monday.
“The partnership between the MRC and the Mississippi River Commission has benefited both organisations in term of lessons learnt [about] sharing on sustainable development and river basin management.
“We highly appreciate the cooperation with the Mississippi River Commission and look forward to continuing the partnership,” Pham Tuan Phan, chief executive officer of the MRC, said yesterday.
The US delegation would be touring the region until Sunday to share experiences in river management, the MRC said
The Mississippi River Commission visited Cambodia once in 2013, it said.
The trip is part of the sharing of experience the MRC and the Mississippi River Commission under a memorandum of understanding signed by the two organisations in 2010.
They agreed to promote and enhance public safety and community welfare by fostering research, improving water resources development and advancing systems for more economical, efficient and environmentally sound water resources management in the two river basins, it said.
The MRC, which has been a regulatory body of the Mekong River since 1995, was engaged in several controversial projects including hydropower dams located in the main stream of the river, which could cause serious environmental impacts for downstream countries.
This visit will be an opportunity for the Mississippi River Commission delegation to exchange information with MRC members and the ministers from Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, he said.