The Vietnam National Mekong Committee (VMC) held a seminar in Hanoi onOctober 10 on building a national action plan to implement the MekongRiver basin development strategy.

Participants at the event agreed that the long-term goal of thestrategy is to strengthen the general management of water resources inthe Mekong Delta and Central Highlands regions and create a legal andtechnical framework for cooperation within the Mekong Commission.

They suggested that in the short term, Vietnam should defineissues of its concern to work out projects for assisting nationalpolicies and strategies as well as update scenarios for the basindevelopment.

The VMC highlighted the 10Vsub-region, known as the Mekong Delta and 7V sub-region, including SeSan – Srepok river basins. Both of them have a strategically importantposition in national socio-economic development and political security,as well as promote cooperation with the Mekong Commission membercountries.

The committee also proposed projects forthe Mekong Delta and Central Highlands regions with different goals,towards the sustainable development of water resources at national andbasin levels.

The 4,800 km Mekong river originatesfrom Tibet , running through China , Myanmar , Laos , Thailand ,Cambodia and Vietnam . The Mekong river basin covers an area of795,000 sq. km and is home to 60 million people, including 20 millionliving in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and Central Highlands regions.-VNA