Hanoi (VNA) – TheDiplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Chinese Embassy co-organised a seminar onMekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) and related regional collaboration opportunitiesin Hanoi on March 18.

The seminar, which formed part ofactivities in response to the MLC week in late March each year, attracted over50 delegates from the China Institute of International Studies, Vietnam’s ministries,sectors and research institutes, and media agencies from both countries.

Speaking at the event, Assistant to the Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Van Thao said the MLCmechanism, established three years ago, has seen positive activities and nowbrought the cooperation from the start into its development phase. 

Vietnam treasures the MLCmechanism and has joined in the building process since the beginning and proposedvarious initiatives, he noted.

Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam XiongBo said six MLC countries share a close connection in terms of geographiclocation, economy, and culture. The nations have realized their ideas via aseries of activities related to economic cooperation, infrastructure, culturalexchange, education and health toward openness, equality, inclusion, and mutualsupport.

The diplomat stated Vietnam holdsan indispensible role in MLC and highlighted the country’s potential forpartnership in production, agriculture, and water management.

At the seminar, participantsexchanged views on various MLC aspects, including economy, water sources,infrastructure construction, and people-to-people exchanges. They pointed out anumber of shortcomings like the shortage of diversified capital sources as wellas specific mechanisms for water source-related cooperation and basicprinciples for water use. They also put forth measures to strengthen the MLC.

The MLC is a sub-regionalcooperation mechanism that was jointly established in 2016 by the six countriesalong the Mekong River, namely Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, andVietnam.-VNA