A program named “Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership” was formally launched at the annual Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Ministerial Meeting held in Vientiane, Laos last month. The objective of the program is to train LMI officials to achieve two specific objectives: identify training deficiencies that can be addressed through future programming and establish a mechanism for coordinating among the Friends of the Lower Mekong (FLM) to streamline the planning process and improve efficiency.
By establishing the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership, the United States and FLM partners will collaborate to facilitate complementary capacity-building trainings in LMI countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The ministers from respective countries reaffirmed the seriousness of developing sustainable infrastructure to assist in promotion of economic growth, conservation of the environment and ensuring climate resilience across the Lower Mekong at this year’s meeting which was attended by American delegation led by Secretary John Kerry. LMI was launched at the July 2009 ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) annual meetings with a focus to narrow the development gap between the five Lower Mekong countries, which include regionally least developed countries except Thailand. The United States has been strengthening its cooperation with the Lower Mekong region through this initiative.
