The Mekong - Republic of Korea (Mekong - ROK) Senior Officials’ Meeting 2023 in Seoul

On 25 May 2023, Ms. Pinsuda Jayanama, Ambassador Attached to the Ministry and Thailand's Mekong SOM Leader, participated in the Mekong - Republic of Korea Senior Officials' Meeting (Mekong - ROK SOM) 2023 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The Meeting welcomed the progress of the Mekong - ROK cooperation and commended the ROK's constructive engagement in and commitment to the concrete development of the Mekong sub-region in accordance with the Han River Declaration, the Mekong - ROK Plan of Action 2021 - 2025 and the Korean - ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI). These endeavours are reflected in the ROK's annual contribution to the Mekong - Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund (MKCF), which has supported more than 40 development projects of the Mekong - ROK Member Countries in various areas since 2016. The Meeting also exchanged views on the future direction of the Mekong - ROK cooperation with the view to supporting economic recovery of the sub-region from the COVID-19 pandemic and changing global situations, as well as strengthening its capacity to tackle non-traditional security issues.

Ambassador Pinsuda expressed Thailand's readiness to partner with the ROK to promote sustainable development in the Mekong sub-region and proposed the Mekong countries to join hands with the ROK to foster cooperation in the following areas: (1) addressing non-traditional security issues, such as telecom scam (call center), human trafficking, narcotics and pandemic (2) water resources management and environmental conservation, including haze pollution (3) trade and investment cooperation and key future industries, such as electronic vehicles (EV), smart agriculture, 5G networks, digital economy, and Bio - Circular - Green (BCG) economy and (4) synergizing collaboration between public and private sectors in steering the Mekong - ROK cooperation, which Thailand was pleased that the ROK will organise the Mekong - ROK Business Forum in November 2023. Thailand also advocated for enhancing the synergy between the Mekong - ROK and other sub-regional cooperation frameworks, particularly ACMECS, as well as promoting tripartite cooperation between the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the collaboration between the ROK and other development partners in the sub-region.

Established in 2011, the Mekong - ROK comprises five Mekong countries, namely; Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, and the ROK. Currently, it is guided by the Mekong - ROK Plan of Action 2021 - 2025, based on three pillars - People, Prosperity and Peace - and seven priority areas of cooperation: (1) culture and tourism (2) human resources development (3) agriculture and rural development (4) infrastructure (5) information and communication technology (6) environment and (7) non-traditional security challenges.