Prime Minister supported the strengthening of cooperation between Mekong sub-regional countries and proposed priority issues on public health especially the Universal Health Coverage, building supply chain connectivity and sustainable and grassroots development in the 12th Mekong-Japan Summit.

On 13 November 2020, H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand attended the 12th Mekong-Japan Summit via videoconference, which was co-chaired by the Prime Minister of Japan and the Prime Minister of Viet Nam.

The Meeting reviewed progress under Tokyo Strategy 2018, discussed future direction of Mekong-Japan Cooperation in line with 1) ACMECS Master Plan 2) Free and Open Indo-Pacific and 3) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as reaffirmed commitment to working closely together to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak and ensure post-pandemic economic recovery, especially promoting private sector investment in the Mekong sub-region.

The Prime Minister proposed 3 priority issues for cooperation; 1) Public Health to achieve Universal Health Coverage, by which Thailand is ready to share experiences on public health personnel capacity building. Thailand also supports equitable and affordable access to medicine and vaccines 2) Building Supply Chain Connectivity through further development of quality infrastructure projects in the sub-region. The Prime Minister also invited Japan to invest in the Land Bridge Project and the Thai Bridge Project linking the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) and the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC), which are integral to connection between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans and 3) Sustainable and Grassroots Development. The Prime Minister commended Japan’s KUSANONE Mekong SDGs Initiative and reaffirmed Thailand’s readiness to co-host with Japan the Inaugural Mekong-Japan SDGs Forum to promote the sharing of knowledge and experiences to achieve SDGs. The Prime Minister also updated Japan about the plan to organise the next virtual ACMECS Summit, under the chairmanship of Cambodia, in early December 2020 and reaffirmed ACMECS’ commitment to advancing cooperation under the 3 Pillars of the ACMECS Master Plan 2019-2022 focusing on public health and supply chain connectivity cooperation, which will help tackle COVID-19 and ensure post-pandemic economic recovery.

The Meeting adopted the Joint Statement of the 12th Mekong-Japan Summit in which the leaders commended progress under Tokyo Strategy 2018, discussed future direction, and affirmed their intention to attend 13th Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo next year.

Mekong-Japan Cooperation consists of 6 member countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Thailand and Japan. It was initiated by Japan in 2008 with the aim to promote economic cooperation and ASEAN community building. Thailand collaborates closely with Japan as development partners under this cooperation framework.