LMC countries proud to work together to build community of shared future: Cambodian FM

PHNOM PENH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said on Wednesday that the six Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Countries are proud to work together to build a community of shared future.

"Cambodia, like the other 5 LMC Countries, takes great pride in being able to build together this Community of Shared Future of Peace and Prosperity," he said in a message celebrating the annual LMC Week 2019.

The LMC Countries include China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Sokhonn, who is also a deputy prime minister, said when the LMC leaders held their first meeting in the beautiful city of Sanya on China's Hainan Island in March 2016, they believed that this new cooperation mechanism, with its top-level political commitment, will grow from strength to strength over the years to come.

He said Cambodia was honored to drive this vision during its co-chairmanship of the second LMC Leaders Meeting in January 2018 in Phnom Penh.

He added that together, the leaders built on the past momentum and adopted the "Phnom Penh Declaration" and the "Five-Year Plan of Action on the LMC (2018-2022)".

"These two policy instruments have provided us with a clear-sighted approach to take the LMC forward from its nurturing phase into the next growth stage," he said.

"I believe that the Mekong region can offer more than its own weight," the Cambodian top diplomat said. "It is an integral part of the ASEAN Community and even one of the global growth centers."

Sokhonn said building on an open regional integration and a staunch multilateralism policy, the Mekong region can accelerate its efforts to narrow the development gap to build a strong ASEAN Community.

"With that unified strength, the LMC could serve as a useful complement to the larger ASEAN-China Cooperation framework," he said.

He said that in such a short timeframe, the LMC has put in place various implementing mechanisms to support and deliver on the leaders' vision.

Cambodia is very appreciative of China's LMC Special Fund of 300 million U.S. dollars launched in 2016, Sokhonn said, adding that the fund, earmarked for a five-year period, is currently being used to support small and medium scale soft cooperation projects by all LMC member Countries.

He said the outcomes of those cooperation projects would bring tangible benefits to the people in the Mekong region.

Among those projects, Cambodia has received a total of 35 projects to support the development of soft infrastructure, knowledge and experience sharing, people-to-people exchanges, and independent research projects, he said.

"Cambodia is proud of its active role in the LMC from the very beginning and we are as committed as ever to see that this initiative continues to be relevant to Cambodia and to the Mekong region, in particular at a time when we are consolidating our region into a region of peace, sustainable development and shared prosperity," Sokhonn said.