In 2019, the Mekong Institute conducted 112 capacity building activities that benefitted 3,270 participants from the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries in the areas of agricultural commercialization, trade and investment facilitation, and innovation technology and communication. Furthermore, Mekong Institute alumni held 155 trainings and workshops, expanding knowledge sharing to an additional 9,031 beneficiaries across Cambodia, People’s Republic of China (PRC), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Third Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group on Health Cooperation, jointly organized by the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was held on 12–13 December in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today approved $2 million in new funding to support efforts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (nCoV).

The funds will supplement an ongoing regional technical assistance and strengthen response capacity in Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

The Regional Power Trade Coordination Committee (RPTCC-26) held its 26^th  Meeting back-to-back with the meetings of the Working Group for Planning and Operations (WGPO)* and Working Group on Regulatory Issues (WGRI) on 26  to 27 November 2019 in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

Orlathai Ferchanthala dreams of turning her family’s subsistence farm into a commercial business growing rice and a range of cash crops, raising livestock, and outfitted with a modern irrigation system.

“The soil here is suitable for growing various crops, and the grass is perfect for raising cattle,” said Ferchanthala, a 35-year-old mother of three living in a rural community in southern Vientiane. “We need irrigation schemes to bring water into our farming areas in the dry season and proper dikes to protect us from floods in the rainy season.”

The Twenty-third Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Subregional Transport Forum (STF-23) was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 14–15 August 2019. The theme for the forum was “Expanding GMS Transport Cooperation to Vital Multi-sector Concerns.”

A $37.8 million loan deal between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and TTC Energy Development Investment Joint Stock Company (TTC Energy) will provide TTC Energy with long-term financing to develop and operate a 50-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar power plant. The solar power plant and its associated facilities will be built in Tay Ninh Province in Viet Nam, and serve the electricity demand of residents and businesses of Ho Chi Minh City and its surrounding areas. This will help reduce 29,760 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020. 

Tests have been completed on four electricity generators that will link 195 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Don Sahong Dam in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) to Cambodia’s national grid.