Lancang-Mekong countries should make general plan together: expert

Experts from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and China discussed on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation(LMC) at a forum here on Thursday.

A Chinese expert put forward suggestions including making a general plan for the holistic Lancang-Mekong area to solve problems.

Yang Yi, secretary general of China Institute of International Studies, said China and other countries along the river should work together to make a general plan for the whole region.

Yang's suggestions came as a response to some experts' remarks about the Chinese dams built on the upper reaches of the river.

Experts at the forum discussed about water resources and the severe drought that Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are facing.

Pou Sothirak, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for cooperation and Peace, expressed gratitude to China for discharging water to ease the drought for downstream countries.

He called for China to improve the accessibility of data of those dams and to invite other downstream countries' support while building new dams on the river.

Yang pointed out the importance of data and information sharing among all six countries in order to deal with natural disasters and other problems, which Vietnamese expert on water resources Dao Trong Tu agreed.

Experts have exchanges their ideas but they all said LMC is a promising framework with China's participance.

The forum, which focus on the challenges, opportunities and ways forward for the LMC framework, is held by Institute of Security and International Studies of Thailand. Enditem