On 12 November 2015, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs co-chaired the 1st Mekong – Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jinghong, Yunnan, China with H.E. Mr. Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, alongside of Foreign Ministers from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam.
         The meeting discussed the way forward for the MLC framework, initiated by Thailand and endorsed by China and other member countries. The objective of the LMC framework is to work in tandem with other sub-regional cooperative framework to promote practical and value-added cooperation in promoting sustainable development, reducing developmental disparity, and supporting the creation of ASEAN community.
         The Ministers endorsed the Concept Paper of the MLC, which resulted from consensus-based and discussion on equal footing among all 6 member countries. The concept paper laid out 3 areas of cooperation, namely (1) Political and Security issues (2) Economic and Sustainable development, and (3) social, cultural, and people to people exchanges, in accordance with the 3 main pillars of ASEAN. The meeting also issued a Joint Press Communique announcing the official launch of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Framework.
         During the first phase, the meeting agreed to focus on 5 issues, namely (1) regional connectivity (2) industrial cooperation (3) cross-border economic cooperation (4) water resources management and (5) agricultural cooperation and poverty reduction. The focus on these issues reflects the importance of realizing sustainable development agenda by 2030 and served as an important example of South-South cooperation, which complement Thailand’s role as the Chair of the G-77 in 2016.
         The meeting tasked relevant senior officials to discussed criteria for selecting and projects among the 72 early harvest projects proposed by member countries to push forward for practical cooperation and prepare for the First Summit meeting in 2016.