Training program launched to bolster Lancang-Mekong Cooperation

KUNMING - Thirty-five participants from six Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) countries are attending a week-long training program in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

The Second Training Program for LMC National Secretariats and Coordination Units was started on Monday. Participants will join a series of activities including lectures, exchanges with officials, group discussions and field trips.

Liang Jianjun, counselor of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said at the program's opening ceremony that LMC has developed from the incubation stage to a growth period.

"LMC is the baby born out of the wisdom and hard work of our six countries, and will also be our shared endeavor," Liang said. "The '3+5+X' cooperation framework has taken shape."

The "3+5+X" mechanism of cooperation refers to the three cooperation pillars of political and security issues, economic and sustainable development, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges; the five key priority areas of connectivity, production capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources, and agriculture and poverty reduction; as well as cooperation in broader areas such as the digital economy, environmental protection, customs and youth.

The LMC is a sub-regional cooperation mechanism serving the common needs of the six countries along the Mekong River (the Chinese stretch of which is called the Lancang River), including China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

During the past three years since the launch of LMC, a set of organizations have been set up, such as the Lancang-Mekong water resources cooperation center, the Lancang-Mekong environmental cooperation center and global center for Mekong River studies.

About 300 small and medium-sized cooperation projects and over 20 large infrastructure and industrialization projects have been launched.