Mekong River Commission

2006 Corporate highlights

Planning for sustainable development

The MRC Joint Committee endorsed the final draft of the Strategic Plan 2006-2010 at its 24th meeting in Vientiane on 29- 30 August, 2006.

The Strategic Plan has an overall goal aimed at supporting our member countries to make "More effective use of the Mekong's water and related resources to alleviate poverty while protecting the environment" and sets the path for the MRC's work for the next five years. In order to guarantee strong country ownership the Strategic Plan went through an extensive consultation process with the Member States and stakeholders in the basin and demonstrates a strong shared vision of the need for a regional perspective in development.

Because MRC wanted this plan to be as inclusive as possible it also took on board comments from donors and from members of civil society. The MRC now has a very good consensus to support its work over the next five years. A full summary of the main goals of the Strategic Plan 2006-2010 is on page 10.

Increased involvement with stakeholders

Representatives from the Mekong River Commission played an active role in a regional stakeholder forum entitled the Mekong Region Waters Dialogue – Exploring Water Futures Together, held in Vientiane, Lao PDR in June 2006.

The aim of the dialogue meeting was to provide a platform for participants to learn, share and discuss different perspectives regarding decision-making for water development and management in the Mekong Region. The MRC welcomed this opportunity to both inform stakeholders in the Mekong Basin about its work and seek their opinions on how it could work more through active discussion.

The dialogue, which was organised by the IUCN, the Thailand Environment Institute, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Mekong Programme on Water and Resilience (M-Power) was the first of its kind in the region to bring together representatives from governments, international organisations and development banks, civil society, NGOs, private business and other interested actors from the six Mekong countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Viet Nam, China and Myanmar).

MRC made presentations on its regional strategy for use and development of the water resources within the Mekong River Basin and on integrated basin flow management. It also hosted a session focusing on the MRC Strategic Plan 2006- 2010. This session provided the MRC with extensive feedback to this plan. This is the second time the MRC has sought to involve stakeholders in its decision-making process for the sustainable development of water and related resources in the Mekong River Basin in the context of its strategic planning process. The first meeting was in August 2005 and the MRC plans to continue this process on a regular basis.

Warmer relationships with Dialogue Partners

Over the past year MRC's relationship with China and Myanmar has strengthened. MRC is now poised to move toward more concrete technical cooperation within its established dialogue partnership and is in the process of discussing and identifying a number of possible work areas, particularly with China.

China’s Minister of Water Resources
H.E. Mr Wang Schuheng chats with Dr Cogels
at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City.

In January 2006 the MRC Secretariat commenced supplying China with monthly flow data from hydrological stations in Chiang Saen, Thailand and Stung Treng, Cambodia.

The MRC in close cooperation with China has made good progress under the AusAID-funded Appropriate Hydrological Network Improvement Project (AHNIP) in the improvement of the two hydrological stations at Jinghong and Man'An, and the establishment of the Data Centre at the Provincial Bureau of Hydrology and Water Resources in Kunming, People's Republic of China. In June 2006 the MRC organised a technical mission to these stations to make necessary arrangements for the provision of data for the flood season 2006 and to consolidate the capacity of local technical staff in using automatic equipment provided by MRC. As a result, the supply of regular data commenced successfully from 15 June 2006 onward.

Strengthening Partnerships in the Basin

The MRC has strengthened its partnerships with development banks working in the region, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, French Development Bank AFD and KfW German Development Bank and also formed a new relationship with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The MRC has been heavily involved in the preparation of the water resources programme being developed by the World Bank and the ADB in close consultation with the country governments, the MRC and civil society and using MRC data and expertise.

These partnerships reaffirm the recognition of the role of the MRC as a leader in strategic planning and management of the basin's water and related resources and an organisation ideally placed to identify important joint and basin wide projects and programmes, while supporting line agencies with knowledge and expertise.

Co-hosting international conferences

During 2006 MRC also co-hosted two important international conferences.

The first, hosted with Japanese research groups, An International Conference on Mekong Research for the People of the Mekong was held in October in Chiang Rai, Thailand. At this conference, Mekong research groups met to discuss the common agenda from different perspectives, focusing on the people of the Mekong River Basin. Themes of the conference were: Water Resources Development, Food and Environmental Impacts; Climate and Basin Changes and Water Hazards Management; Eco System and Biodiversity; and Future Opportunities and Transboundary Collaboration.

The second conference – the International Conference on Water and Food, held in November in Vientiane, Lao PDR, was co-hosted with the Challenge Programme on Water and Food and brought together more than 250 water experts from nine river basins around the world. It focused on research achievements in the field of water productivity in agriculture and recommended areas for research as well as showing how water productive research results could be better translated into positive developments.

MRC makes mark at 4th World Water Forum

A delegation from MRC participated in the 4th World Water Forum held in Mexico City in March 2006 and in the accompanying World Water Fair. The MRC made presentations on the Hydropower Potential and Development in the Mekong River Basin, the Mekong Programme, Regional Economic Integration through Improved Mekong Navigation; and Satellite Observations with Regard to Floods.

The MRC’s booth at the 4th World Water Forum drew much
interest.

MRCS CEO Dr Olivier Cogels was also present at the Ministerial Meeting to inaugurate the Asia Pacific Water Forum and took this occasion to explain the role MRC played as a river basin organisation in the region and the importance of transboundary issue management.

The forum represented an excellent chance for MRC to promote its work and for delegates to meet others working in river basin organisations or involved in water management from all over the globe, to interact with senior members of governments and to cement good relationships with our donor countries and international organisations who are interested in working in partnership with MRC. It also provided an informal opportunity to meet with representatives from MRC's Dialogue Partner, China. The booth illustrating the work of the MRC and the Mekong Programme drew a wide range of international visitors.

Time for an organisational review

In late 2006 an organisational review team spent two months examining the structural, management and financial workings of the MRC, its Secretariat and the National Mekong Committees. The team comprising eight regional and international experts visited all the countries and spoke to a broad spectrum of representatives of all these bodies and then presented their findings at the 13th Council Meeting in Ho Chi Minh City in December 2006. The review was financed by the Governments of Australia, Denmark, France and Sweden. The report expressed a positive view of the MRCS and its operations and also provided some very useful recommendations on enhancing efficiences.