On 6 April 2023, Ms. Pinsuda Jayanama, Ambassador for Mekong Cooperation and Thailand’s Mekong SOM Leader, attended the Mekong - U.S. Partnership Senior Officials’ Meeting (MUSP SOM) and the Friends of the Mekong Senior Official Meeting (FOM SOM) in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

The MUSP SOM, co-chaired by H.E. Dr. Jung H. Pak, Deputy Assistant Secretary, United States Department of State, and H.E. Mr. Kingphokeo Phommahaxy, Director - General of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR, exchanged views on the Mekong countries’ approaches for economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era and the promotion of capacity building in the Mekong sub-region on economic connectivity, food security, transnational crimes and human resource development. On this occasion, the Thai SOM Leader delivered a statement supporting the MUSP’s multi-level mechanisms to engage stakeholders from various sectors in the sub-region in policy consultation processes. The Thai SOM Leader also viewed that, in the long term, the MUSP should promote cooperation projects and activities to be result-oriented and strengthen the Mekong countries’ capacities towards a resilient, smart, low-carbon, and sustainable growth.

The MUSP Meeting agreed on the draft MUSP Co-chair Concept Note for 2023 which promotes cooperation in economic connectivity, food security, human resource development and combatting transnational crimes. The Meeting also consulted on the drafting of the new MUSP Plan of Action for the year 2024 - 2026.

The FOM SOM, which was chaired by the United States, exchanged views on the issues of sub-regional cooperation in economic recovery, energy resilience and natural resource management. Ambassador Pinsuda delivered a statement encouraging the FOM members to seek synergy and complementarity in implementing their cooperation projects and activities in the Mekong sub-region by utitilising the Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) as a “connector”, of which most FOM members are the Development Partners. In addition, the Ambassador called for the FOM to be a comprehensive and inclusive platform for driving forward development cooperation in the sub-region.

Furthermore, the FOM SOM conducted a mapping exercise to match their similar cooperation projects and activities with a view to enhancing effectiveness and avoiding duplication of development cooperation in the sub-region. Following, the Meeting launched the public release of the Japan - U.S. - Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP) Action Plan, which sets the example of synergised cooperation project between the FOM members and the Mekong countries to enhance sub-regional capacity in sustainable energy.

The MUSP is a Mekong cooperation framework, which was elevated from the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) in 2020. MUSP comprises five Mekong countries, namely Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, and the United States, as members. The FOM is the coordination platform under the MUSP between the Mekong countries and their development partners, consisting of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United States, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Mekong River Commission Secretariat. The United States has also invited India, the United Kingdom and ASEAN Secretariat to attend this FOM Meeting as observers.