~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
[Year 2000]
[Year 2001]

Mekong river body opens new headquarters

PHNOM PENH - The four-country Mekong River Commission (MRC) inaugurated its new headquarters on a bank of the Mekong river on Tuesday in the southern outskirts of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
Prime Minister Hun Sen presided over the opening and said the development of the Mekong River was vital for Cambodia and for tens of millions of people living along its banks.

``The sustainable development of the Mekong river -- hydro-electricity, transport, bridges, fisheries...is not only the aim of the MRC, it is also a main policy of the Cambodian government,'' Hun Sen said.
The Mekong River Commission, which includes representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, works to promote sustainable development of water and resources in the river's lower basin.
The chairman of the commission, Vietnam's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Huy Ngo, said its long-term aim was an economically prosperous, socially just and environmentally sound Mekong River basin.

Under an agreement signed last year Cambodia will share responsibility for hosting the headquarters with Laos. The headquarters will alternate between Vientiane and Phnom Penh every five years.

Reuters - May 4, 1999.