Mekong programme

A pretty idyllic place on the Mekong Delta.

In a strengthened regional multisectoral response in the greater Mekong subregion, through the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative, an agreement was signed in Yangon in October 2004.

2000 5 Decade of Greater Mekong Subregion Development Cooperation, 2000 2009 (subprogrammes 1, 4, and 5)

56 1 Decade of Greater Mekong Subregion Development Cooperation, 2000 2009 (subprogrammes 1, 4 and 5)

At the subregional level, following the signing of the memorandum of understanding of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) in 2005, the six Greater Mekong subregion countries had agreed on a subregional plan of action against human trafficking.

ASEAN investment cooperation and the Greater Mekong Subregion arrangement have also encouraged Thai OFDI to member States.

At the regional level, the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative (COMMIT) had been signed in Yangon in October 2004.

A subregional programme against child trafficking in South Asia and the Mekong Basin countries was also introduced in 1997.

In terms of regional commitments, China signed the Memorandum of Understanding against Human Trafficking in the Mekong Subregion in October 2004.

The forum focused on management issues of three major river basins in Asia the Mekong, the Salween and the Ganges Brahmaputra.

Of particular importance was the Ayeyawady Chaophraya Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), bringing together Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Thailand has further developed its role in assisting countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion to strengthen their policies and strategies on reproductive health and HIV prevention.

Sea level rise threatens coastal ecosystems, agriculture, even major cities. This is what one to two meters of sea level rise looks like in the Mekong Delta.

The Government was working with the Governments of the Mekong subregion, with which it had signed memorandums of understanding, and with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Despite its horrendous nature and its consequences on victims, human trafficking in the Greater Mekong subregion remains by and large a profitable and almost risk free business.

Seventeen regional technical assistance projects were also approved by the Asian Development Bank for US 7 million to promote long term development in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

Assistance to the Secretariat, the National Mekong Committees, the Commission and the Joint Committee will involve capacity development as well as direct high level technical advisory services.

The All China Women's Federation also participates in the ILO Mekong Sub Regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women running in Yunnan from 2001 to 2005.

The Myitsone and Mekong episodes highlight China s suddenly edgy relations with its southern neighbors. Its good neighbor policy, it turns out, has steered China s regional diplomacy into uncharted waters.

This included regional and national consultations in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the Mekong Delta and technical assistance to community led initiatives for improving water and sanitation.

UNDP will also help the Mekong River Commission to develop the Donor Consultative Group mechanism into a forum for policy dialogue and to manage a multi donor trust fund.

China has already built six mega dams on the Mekong the lifeblood for continental Southeast Asia with its latest addition being the 254 meter high Nuozhadu Dam, whose gargantuan reservoir is designed to hold nearly 22 billion cubic meters of water. The current dam building plans threaten the Salween River s Grand Canyon a UNESCO World Heritage site and the pristine, environmentally sensitive areas through which the Brahmaputra and the Mekong flow.

Whereas riparian neighbors in Southeast and South Asia are bound by water pacts that they have negotiated between themselves, China does not have a single water treaty with any co riparian country. Indeed, having its cake and eating it, China is a dialogue partner but not a member of the Mekong River Commission, underscoring its intent not to abide by the Mekong basin community s rules or take on any legal obligations.

The work carried out in this context includes several regional projects in the countries of the West African Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Mekong Delta region, South Asian LDCs and Central America.

These include the reports for the ASEAN subregion the greater Mekong subregion, comprising Cambodia, China, Lao People apos s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam south Asia and south Pacific

The Religious Leadership Initiative continued to expand in the Mekong Delta countries, while the Islamic Leadership Initiative in Indonesia undertook a comprehensive baseline survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices among young people.

The Border Liaison Office, a cooperative mechanism along and across the borders of the Great Mekong River countries, established as part of a UNODC project, is a pioneer mechanism in the region.

The King of Thailand presided over the Royal Ploughing Ceremony in May, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam organized the Mekong Rice Conference in Ho Chi Minh City.

Following on the successes of the first stage of this programme, the second stage, now under way, is moving beyond the original single country focus to address cross border trafficking throughout the Mekong subregion.

Myanmar takes an active part in subregional cooperation initiatives such as the Ayeyawady Chao Phraya Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi sectoral Technical Cooperation and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue.

20. The objective of the programme is to assist the component parts of the Mekong River Commission to design and implement a sustainable development strategy, drawing on the 1995 agreements of the riparian countries.

China actively supports the campaigns against abduction and trafficking that are conducted by such international institutions and organizations as UNDP, ILO, Britain's Save the Children, Australia's Agency for International Development, and the Mekong Region Law Centre.

Targeting children under 18 who are at risk and are victims of trafficking in the Mekong basin and in South Asia, the new programme covers Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Worse, while promoting multilateralism on the world stage, China has given the cold shoulder to multilateral cooperation among river basin states. The lower Mekong countries, for example, view China s strategy as an attempt to divide and conquer.

The spread of infectious diseases, such as malaria, avian flu and HIV AIDS, although prevalence is low, continues to pose a serious threat to the nation because of its land links to countries in the Greater Mekong subregion.

As a follow up to the forum, UNU is planning to undertake a study of the Salween river system with a view to studying the possibilities of establishing a Salween Committee along the lines of the Mekong Committee.

ESCAP continued to support the draft agreement on facilitation of cross border transport of goods and people in the Greater Mekong Subregion and the draft intergovernmental agreement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on facilitation of international road transport.

The Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) also has a long history of supporting regional institutions, such as the Asian Institute of Technology at Bangkok, the Mekong secretariat (in collaboration with UNDP) and the Aral Sea Authority.

Memoranda of understanding and agreements to cooperate have been reached with the following five subregional organizations in the region ASEAN, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Mekong River Commission, South Asia Co operative Environment Programme and South Pacific Regional Environment Programme

The organization reports that two parts of Asia are rife with child trafficking the Mekong region, which includes Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, and the South Asian countries of Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

expand the depth of pragmatic cooperation, strengthen cooperation in the areas of defense and law enforcement and security, promote humanitistic exchanges, and work closely in cooperation and collaboration in multilateral mechanisms, such as the United Nations, East Asian cooperation, and Lancang Mekong cooperation

The Subcommittee noted the particular socio economic situation of the countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion and requested the secretariat to pay special attention to those countries in their ICT applications, and thereby assist them in enhancing access to ICT and bridging the digital divide.

Two quot hot spots quot (major disturbance fronts), one in the northern part of the Lao People apos s Democratic Republic and the other at the Mekong delta in Viet Nam, have been identified for further investigation using high resolution data from LANDSAT thematic mapper and SPOT.

In cooperation with the non governmental organization HelpAge International, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) held a workshop on the Mekong Initiative for Ageing at which national plans of action and projects in support of the Year were designed and reviewed.