On 2 August 2022, H.E. Ambassador Arunrung Phothong Humphreys, Thai SOM Leader for Mekong Cooperation, attended the Friends of the Mekong Senior Officials’ Meeting (FoM SOM) in Phnom Penh, chaired by the United States.

At the Meeting, senior officials and representatives of the members of FoM exchanged views on coordination efforts and further opportunities for cooperation for the Mekong sub-region, focusing on clean energy transition and environmental resilience as theme for this year’s discussion.

Ambassador Arunrung delivered statement encouraging the use of FoM’s best feature - “agility”, to allow the cooperation to be flexible while focusing on concrete outcomes. She highlighted that such results would require the FoM to be development-focused and stressed the importance of mobilising and strengthening collaborative efforts among relevant stakeholders to address key policy and sustainability challenges faced by the sub-region. She also called for the promotion of synergies and complementarities between Mekong cooperation frameworks and, especially, with ACMECS as a “connector” to bridge and align strategic interests among various cooperation frameworks.

Ambassador Arunrung also emphasised the importance of technology transfer to Mekong countries to reduce reliance on fossil fuel and transit to clean energy and eco-friendly systems. She proposed that the Bio - Circular - Green Economy Model could be utilised as a way forward in achieving post-pandemic recovery and sustainable development in the sub-region and proposed to the Meeting to support the ACMECS BCG Outlook as a kickstart project to concretise the FoM.

Initiated in 2011, previously known as the Friends of the Lower Mekong (FLM) under the then Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), FoM, now under the Mekong - U.S. Partnership (MUSP), is chaired by the United States as a platform for development partners of five Mekong countries to coordinate development cooperation efforts in the sub-region. The other eight members of FoM include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Republic of Korea, European Union, Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Mekong River Commission Secretariat.