Fledgling mechanism already shows its worth

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, which was officially inaugurated in 2016, seeks to harness the shared political will for deeper cooperation among the countries through which the world's 12th-longest river flows, to inject vitality into the development of this populous subregion, which, for historical reasons, remains comparatively less developed.

The seed for this cooperation was planted in November 2014, when Premier Li Keqiang proposed that China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, establish a mechanism to leverage their geographic proximity, traditional friendship and complementary economies for shared development.

This seed has taken root and the second Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders' Meeting, which was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday, reviewed the many achievements that have already been made in the first two years of this fledgling subregional cooperation mechanism and looked ahead to the future.