GMS in the News


7th Mekong–Lancang Cooperation Adopts Joint Statements on Cooperation in Agriculture and Trade Facilitation

Foreign ministers of Mekong–Lancang Cooperation member countries vowed to strengthen their cooperation in economic integration, agriculture and food security, green development, innovation, public health and people-to-people exchanges, at the 7th Mekong - Lancang Cooperation meeting. 

The meeting adopted four joint statements on strengthening agricultural cooperation, disaster prevention, customs and trade facilitation, and exchanges between MLC civilizations. 


A green recovery from COVID-19 is crucial to ensure an economically and environmentally resilient future. Photo credit: ADB

Southeast Asia Green Recovery Can Create More Than 30 Million Jobs by 2030—ADB

A green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia has the potential to create $172 billion in investment opportunities annually and generate more than 30 million jobs by 2030, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.


Conserving Nature’s Resources and Securing Livelihoods in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

ADB has been helping to protect biodiversity conservation corridors in the Lao PDR since 2006 through a range of conservation and protection activities. In 2011, ADB approved $20 million grant for the BCC project. The project helped restore, protect, and manage biodiversity corridor sustainably. In 2016, ADB approved additional grant financed by the Climate Investment Funds through its Forest Investment Program to help manage the biodiversity corridors and scale up activities to stop deforestation and forest degradation in the country.


How to Successfully Operationalize One Health for a Green Recovery in the Greater Mekong Subregion?

The Asian Development Bank and the Nossal Institute for Global Health  hosted a virtual meeting titled,Regional Meeting: How to Successfully Operationalize One Health for a Green Recovery in the Greater Mekong Subregion?” on 7 April 2022 to present practical One Health actions in the context of the GMS green recovery agenda, discuss how to incentivize cross-sectoral support, and guide operational planning for future projects. This meeting, which was conducted under TA 9571-REG: Strengthening Regional Health Cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion, is a follow up to the previous meeting held on 3 June 2021, One Health in the GMS: Where are We Now and What Next?


19th Annual Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group on Agriculture (WGA)

The 19th Annual Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group on Agriculture (WGA) will feature the theme "Adaptation of Greater Mekong Subregion Agriculture in the context of Climate Change, and the Water-Food-Energy (WFE) Nexus." There is increasing evidence of substantial trade-offs among water, food, and energy sectors in the GMS and climate change is exacerbating such trade-offs.


Call for Proposals: Submit Applications for Pilot Demonstrations under the GMS Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Program

Demonstrations are one of the main activities of the CCESP in order to help enhance climate resilience, green growth, and environmental quality in the GMS. The program plans to have 27 demonstrations relating to the different themes (such as demonstrations on gender-responsive community resilience projects, and on the circular economy, pollution control, and waste management, etc.). Each demonstration project will have a budget of $40,000.


Mekong Dialogue on Labor Mobility Discusses Multi-sectoral Links between Migration and Development

The Government of Cambodia on 30 May 2022 hosted the Mekong Dialogue on Labor Mobility chaired by Chuop Narath, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. The meeting discussed the promotion of safe migration, healthy labor mobility, and effective reintegration to support sustainable and inclusive development of the region.  


Photo by Dennis Sylvester Hurd via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Cambodia and Lao PDR Report Continuous Drop in COVID-19 Cases in April Amid Festivities

Cambodia and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic have reported a steady drop in average COVID-19 cases per day in April 2022, according to a report on “Vaccination Rates, Effectiveness, and Safety” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In Cambodia, the average COVID-19 cases per day dropped from 164 to 18.4, and deaths decreased from 1 to 0.06, marking a fall in case fatality rate from 0.43% to 0.35%. In Lao PDR, daily infection rates declined steadily, averaging at 986 for April 2022 from 1102 in March 2022, while average deaths per day plateaued between 1 to 3.


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