On 10 January 2024, Ms. Pinsuda Jayanama, Ambassador for Mekong Cooperation and Thailand’s Mekong SOM Leader, attended the Mekong-U.S. Partnership (MUSP) Senior Officials’ Meeting via video conference. The Meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State and Mr. Somboun Sihanath, Director General of Economic Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR, with the attendance of the SOM Leaders from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Viet Nam.

The Meeting welcomed progress in cooperation between Mekong countries and the United States under the MUSP framework. The meeting discussed on the draft new MUSP Plan of Action (2024-2026) to advance cooperation in four key areas; namely, (1) economic connectivity (2) sustainable water and natural resources management, and environmental conservation and protection (3) non-traditional security issues, particularly online scams and cyber-enabled crimes and (4) human resource development. In this regard, the MUSP Member Countries agreed to further discuss details in actualizing the said four areas of cooperation at the 2024 MUSP Policy Dialogue.

The Mekong-U.S. Partnership is a sub-regional framework between the United States and five Mekong countries; namely, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam, which was elevated from the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) in 2020.