The Mekong River Commission 1995 to Present

Abstract

On April 5, 1995 the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam signed the Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (the Agreement) and created the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an international organization in charge of implementing the Agreement. The MRC replaced the Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin (Mekong Committee) and the Interim Mekong Committee (IMC). The MRC Agreement established new principles, rules, and guidelines for cooperation in using, managing, developing, and conserving the shared water resources of the Mekong River, which marked a turning point in the Mekong development project and regional cooperation process. This chapter covers the formation, organization and operation of the MRC during its first 15 years (1995–2010) and attempts to analyze regional cooperation and conflict in the context of an integrated, equitable, and sustainable development of the Mekong River Basin in the new millennium. Section 6.1 explains the significant differences between the formation of the MRC in 1995 and the establishment of its predecessor, the MC, in 1957. Section 6.2 describes the structure, powers, and functions of the organization. Section 6.3 deals with the principles of cooperation, programs, and achievements of the MRC. Section 6.4 examines the areas of cooperation and conflict among the riparian countries. We will cover the first MRC Summit, in April 2010, in Hua Hin, Thailand, where the prime ministers of the four riparian states convened to celebrate their 15 years of cooperation for an integrated Mekong basin development. We will discuss the impact of China’s hydropower strategy and Laos’ Xayaburi mainstream dam project on Mekong Regional Cooperation. Section 6.5 assesses the effectiveness of the MRC, the riparianization process, and the roles of China, Japan, and the United States in promoting regional cooperation for the sustainable development of water resources and food security in the Lower Mekong Basin, in the Mekong Delta.