On 25 August 2022, H.E. Ms. Arunrung Phothong Humphreys, Ambassador Attached to the Ministry and Thai SOM Leader for Mekong Cooperation, attended the ACMECS Senior Officials' Meeting in Vientiane, hosted by the Lao PDR in its capacity as ACMECS Chair.

The Meeting agreed in principle to the establishment of ACMECS Interim Secretariat in Thailand, with the Mekong Institute (MI) as back office/technical support. The Secretariat will be launched at the 10th ACMECS Summit which will be organised by the Lao PDR by the end of 2022, and will become operational by early 2023.

The Meeting also took note of the outcomes of the 6th ACMECS Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting which was held on 25 August 2022 in Vientiane and attended by the delegations from the Ministry of Finance of respective ACMECS Member Countries, particularly the progress on the establishment of ACMECS Development Fund (ACMDF) aiming to be set up by 2023 to support ACMECS cooperation projects under the ACMECS Master Plan 2019 - 2023, and the establishment of ACMECS Project-based Financing Mechanism (ACMPF). Both ACMECS financing mechanisms will provide channels for ACMECS Development Partners and external partners to finance the ACMECS projects.

Furthermore, the Meeting discussed the preparation for the ACMECS Summit, which the Lao PDR proposed the theme “Towards Seamless Connectivity for the Mekong Sub-regional Integration” and prepared the draft Vientiane Declaration to be adopted as the Summit’s outcome document. Prior to the Summit, ACMECS will convene the meeting between ACMECS SOM Leaders and ACMECS DPs in the first batch comprising Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the United States of America. The invitation will also be extended to incoming second-batch DPs, namely Israel and New Zealand which will soon become ACMECS DPs, to attended the meeting as observers. This ACMECS - DPs meeting will provide an opportunity for DPs to be informed of the latest development of ACMECS and discussed about ways and means for DPs to contribute to ACMECS so it would progress in a beneficial and concrete manner for sustainable development and livelihood of the people in the Mekong sub-region.

The Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) is a sub-regional cooperation framework which Thailand initiated in 2003, with a view to increasing capacities, generating growth, creating employment opportunities and narrowing economic and development gaps between all five Member Countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.