China, Mekong countries to have more pragmatic cooperation

KUNMING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Senior foreign affairs officials from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam on Friday agreed to deepen pragmatic cooperation to benefit their people.

At the third Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) foreign ministers' meeting held in Dali, southwest China's Yunnan Province, they decided to implement the consensus reached by their leaders to promote more cooperative projects and build a community with a shared future of peace and prosperity among Lancang-Mekong countries.

The Lancang-Mekong River is a natural link between the six countries.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn co-chaired the meeting. Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, Union Minister for International Cooperation of Myanmar U Kyaw Tin, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh attended the meeting.

The foreign affairs officials congratulated on the progress made in some key areas including connectivity, industry capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction.

They agreed that LMC has evolved from its nurturing period into the growing period, and all member countries should make greater efforts to advance economic and social development, and narrow development gap, and support the ASEAN community building.

They agreed to synergize LMC with the development strategies of each member country, the Belt and Road Initiative and the relevant development programs of ASEAN. Enditem