On 29 July 2019, Dr. Vilawan Mangklatanakul, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and Dr. Sok Siphana, Advisor of the Royal Government of Cambodia, co-chaired the ACMECS Inaugural Senior Officials' Meetings with Development Partners on the sidelines of the 52nd ASEAN Ministerial Meetings and Related Meetings, at Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at Central World, Bangkok, Thailand.

 

      The meetings marked a milestone for ACMECS as its Member States met for the first time with the First Batch of ACMECS Development Partners  namely; Japan, Republic of Korea, United States, Australia, China, and India. Aiming to officially acknowledge the engagement of the First Batch of ACMECS Development Partners, the meetings were held separately with each Development Partner to discuss ways to strengthen concrete cooperation and to formulate the Joint Development Plan (JDP) between ACMECS and Development Partners.

 

      During the course of the meetings, the six Development Partners delivered statements expressing readiness to strengthen their cooperation with ACMECS, particularly in areas that are in line with their expertise, in accordance with ACMECS Master Plan (2019 - 2023), and answering the needs of the Mekong sub-region, such as Human Resource Development, Education, Water Resource Management, Energy Security, and Digital Economy.

 

      The inaugural meetings further contribute to the success and progress of ACMECS revitalisation with a view to becoming more inclusive, modern and responsive to the geopolitical shift through engaging with Development Partners and enhancing the synchronisation between  existing cooperation frameworks. They also reflect the Development Partners’ confidence in ACMECS as a leading platform towards a more balanced, stable, prosperous and sustainable sub-region that leaves no one behind.

 

      ACMECS is a sub-regional cooperation framework among five Members States namely; Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. The framework was established by Thailand in 2003 with the aim to narrowing economic development gaps and promoting sustainable growth in the Mekong sub-region. ACMECS has been driven forward by the working mechanisms at leader, ministerial, senior-official, and Working Group levels. Thailand has played constructive roles as Coordinator between ACMECS and Development Partners. Cambodia is the current Chair of ACMECS.