Disaster Management discussed in Mekong Japan summit
Leaders from Japan and Mekong countries Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam agreed in their third summit in Bali to map out new areas of cooperation in order to make development in the region be more relevant and contribute to the establishment of
The new pillars of Mekong-Japan cooperation for the period of three year 2013-2015 would be intensively discussed for the adoption when Japan hosted the next summit in Japan next year.
The new three year plan would update the current one, made since 2009, to reflect the current situation, according to the joint statement issued after the summit Friday evening.
During the summit in Bali, leaders of the group emphasized the needs to have further cooperation for disaster management in the Mekong region, taking into account of the current great flood in the region notably in Thailand where a huge Japanese production base was seriously damaged.
“Japanese and Mekong economies are closely connected via production chain and logistic linkage in this region, so that the damage affected all of our economies,” Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said in the meeting.
Water resource management in the Mekong region is very important issue for the region. Thailand supported cooperation of countries in the Lower Mekong basin which included Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on the water resource management, she said.
The disaster has posed serious impact on regional food security since the flood and drought affected agriculture sector and farmers, she said.
Flood affected Mekong region is one of major world’s rice production and agriculture base, she said.
Yingluck expressed her gratitude for assistance from Japan and countries in the Mekong region to Thailand’s flood relief.
In the meeting, leaders of Mekong-Japan cooperation welcomed Thailand and Japan’s initiatives to enhance their cooperation between Asian Disaster Reduction Center in Kobe and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Thailand, said the joint statement.
Japan will also fully support the establishment of Asean Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center) in Jakarta, it said.
In the 30 minute meeting in Bali, leaders of the Mekong and Japan also exchanged views on regional and global issues such as denuclearization in Korean Peninsula and South China Sea.
Nuclear issue in North Korea is one of Japan’s concerns while the conflict in South China Sea is in Vietnam’s concern.
