Officials prepare for Mekong bloc conference [More conferences, more dams planned to choke the Mekong...]

Already critically endangered, this sample of the Mekong giant cat fish will soon be a thing of the past as the constructions of dams over various points planned over the lower Mekong countries block their seasonal migratory routes, and so will be the fate of the even more rare and threatened remnants of the region's fresh water species, known internationally as the Irrawaddy dolphins below - School of Vice.

Dolphins at Kratie, Cambodia - During the war, the Vietnamese [Vietcongs] and their KR allies killed these animals for their fat used to lubricate guns and artillery pieces. Today reduced to less than a hundred by local accounts they stand at greater risk of disappearing from multiple threats arising from habitat erosion, being caught in fishing nets and other chemical pollutants contaminating the river. The species' overall fate is not too dissimilar to that of the Khmer people! - School of Vice

VIENTIANE, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- More than 80 representatives, including senior officials from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam concluded a two-day meeting here on Thursday in preparation for the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Ministerial Conference in December.

The meeting was convened to finalize the regional investment framework (RIF) sector pipeline, which is to be submitted to the 19th GMS Ministerial Conference for approval, according to the press release.

"It is my belief that the challenges of promoting sustainable growth in the region can be matched only by laying the foundations for a robust and inclusive growth strategy over a long-term vision, a strategy that the GMS cooperation has developed and endorsed with its new Strategic Framework for 2012-2022," said GMS National Coordinator for Laos Monemany Nhoybouakong in her opening statement on Wednesday.

With support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other contributors, the GMS program helps to implement high priority projects in transport, energy, telecommunications, environment, human resource development, tourism, trade, private sector investment and agriculture.

The six countries involved entered into a sub-regional economic cooperation program in 1992 with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Since its inception, about 10 billion U.S. dollars' worth of priority infrastructure projects have been launched by the group.

Nhoybouakong said that the member nations acknowledged the crucial role the GMS program played in promoting socio-economic development and enhancing sub-regional connectivity, which had contributed to resilience and growth amid recent global economic difficulties.

It is important that the six countries do not lose sight of the program's rudimental goals, she said.
The 19th GMS Ministerial Conference is scheduled to be held in Vientiane on Dec.10-11.

GMS, which includes Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and China, was established in 1992.