Mekong River Commission Secretariat

German Government commits to give €3m technical
cooperation support for MRC watershed
management phase III

 

MRC No. 20/08
Vientiane, Lao PDR
November 7, 2008

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) today signed a Euro 3 million (US$4.43 million) commitment over a two and half year period (December 2008-May 2011) for technical cooperation through GTZ to support the work of the Mekong River Commission (MRC).

The commitment was signed in Vientiane, Lao PDR by Ms Kerstin Henke, Country Officer for Lao PDR, Cambodia, MRC, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Mr Jeremy Bird, Chief Executive Officer of the Mekong River Commission Secretariat.

Germany has supported the MRC for many years, focusing in particular on Sustainable Watershed Management under the MRC Agriculture, Irrigation and Forestry Programme and the Flood Management and Mitigation Programme's Components 4 and 5. The renewed support will continue to be used on the MRC-GTZ Watershed Management Project, Phase III.

This technical cooperation with the MRC is in line with the German Government's overarching policies for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. The German technical cooperation will contribute to capacity building on watershed management and work on climate change adaptation in the Mekong River Basin. In particular, the joint project will contribute to the improvement of the institutional framework for planning and coordination of sustainable management of resources in pilot watershed areas at regional and at national level in the four countries of the Lower Mekong Basin to ensure the sustainable management of watershed areas.

Mr Bird thanked the German Government for its continued and generous support of the MRC's work and said the new technical cooperation would be of great assistance in helping the MRC achieve the goals set out in its 2006-2010 Strategic Plan.

"Our Strategic Plan has an overall goal of promoting sustainable development within the basin to alleviate poverty," he said. "This will involve much capacity planning, environmental and climate change issues and the German support will be focused on helping us address these and well as building capacity and knowledge in the basin."

 

For more information please contact:

Wolfgang Schiefer, Chief, International Coordination and Cooperation Section.
MRC Secretariat,
Tel: (856) 21 263 263 Ext 4091.
Mobile: (856) 20 559 9139
Email: schiefer@mrcmekong.org
Website: www.mrcmekong.org

 

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