Mekong-ROK Senior Officials’ Meeting, 2 June 2014, Pattaya City

On 2 June 2014, Mr. Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs and Mr. Suh Jeong-In, Director-General of the Department of South Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Republic of Korea, co-chaired the Mekong-ROK Senior Officials’ Meeting in Pattaya City, Chonburi Province, as a preparation for the next Mekong-ROK Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be held in July 2014.

The meeting featured a revision of the draft plan of action, to be endorsed during the upcoming Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The Republic of Korea also reported the progress of the Mekong-ROK Cooperation Fund which was created last year with a beginning amount of 500,000 USD provided by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Republic of Korea. This year additional 440,000 USD was granted to finance flagship projects of the Mekong-ROK Cooperation.

 The meeting also witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Mekong-ROK Cooperation Fund which was signed between the Mekong Institute and the Republic of Korea.  Under this MOU, the Mekong Institute will be the administrator of the Fund.

Founded in 2010, the Mekong-ROK cooperation aims to promote 6 areas of cooperation, namely, infrastructure, information and communications technology, green growth, water resource development, agriculture and rural development and human resource development. Member States consist of Thailand, Republic of Korea, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam. 

As a development partner in the Mekong sub-region along with the Republic of Korea, Thailand is willing to cooperate with the Republic of Korea in sharing its expertise especially in the area of agriculture and rural development to enhance the competitiveness of the Mekong countries in the Mekong sub-region. This, in turn, will help narrow the development gap and support the progress towards the realization of the ASEAN Community.