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The Mekong River Commission and its
transboundary cooperation
Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun
1
, Mekong River Commission Secretariat
T
he Mekong is the twelfth longest river in the world.
It flows for almost 4,800km from its source in Tibet,
through China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand,
Cambodia and Viet Nam, via a large delta into the sea,
draining a basin area of 795,000km
2
. The river has a mean
annual discharge of approximately 475km
3
, the tenth
largest in the world.
There is a very large difference in wet and dry season flow,
caused by the Southwest Monsoon generating wet and dry
seasons of about equal length. Inter-annual variability is
also large in terms of river discharge, flooded areas, and the
beginning and end of the wet and dry seasons. The seasonal
cycling of water levels at Phnom Penh causes a large water
flow reversal to and from the Tonle Sap Lake, with the associ-
ated flooding and drying creating a rich ecology.
Responsible management of the river has contin-
ued without break since 1957, starting with the Mekong
Committee. Managing the river since 1995, the Mekong
River Commission (MRC) has a comprehensive mandate for
water resources management grounded in a political treaty,
a basin-wide development strategy, a comprehensive set of
procedures for management and a vast knowledge base.
The MRC is an inter-governmental organisation of member
states Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The
mandate, negotiated and established by treaty, the 1995
Mekong Agreement, is: “to promote and coordinate sustain-
able development and management of water and related
resources of the Mekong River Basin”. The principles of under-
lying cooperation are clear: cooperative management of the
common river resources, sovereign equality and territorial
integrity, and reasonable and equitable development.
The 1995 Mekong Agreement placed the management
responsibility of the Commission in the hands of its four
Member Countries, outside of the umbrella of the UN. Under
the agreement, the four signatory countries agreed to coop-
erate in developing, managing, using and conserving water
resources in areas such as fisheries, food control, irrigation,
hydropower, and navigation.
The MRC has three principal organs: the MRC Council,
Joint Committee, and the Secretariat. To manage Mekong
affairs internally and to facilitate cooperation, each member
country has established a National Mekong Committee
(NMC), comprising representatives of the relevant major
line/implementing agencies in each country and supported
by a secretariat (NMCS). With two decades of experience,
the MRC’s mechanisms of dialogue and negotiation are well
established and institutionalised.
Every four years, the MRC member countries convene
summits of prime ministers. Every year, environment and
water ministers from member states meet to discuss emerg-
ing issues related to the Lower Mekong Basin. The MRC Joint
Committee, comprising senior officials of the four countries,
is then responsible for turning decisions and policies into
firm actions. The committee meets twice a year and reports
to the Council, functioning as the management body for
the MRC. The MRC Secretariat is the operational arm of
the organisation and performs technical and administrative
functions under the management of a CEO.
This commitment to work together – to meet, talk, listen, and
search for solutions – is the quintessential Mekong spirit that
has enabled the countries to come together despite their differ-
ences at every MRC meeting since 1995. No mechanism in the
region has been able to provide a water diplomacy platform as
legitimately as MRC at every level, from prime ministers, minis-
ters, and heads of departments to technicians and scientists.
While the responsibility for planning, design and imple-
mentation of development projects and water resources
Mekong River
Commission
Council
(policy making body)
Joint committee
(management body)
National
Mekong
committees
Development
partners and
organisations
Dialogue partners
Member states
China
Myanmar
Cambodia Lao PDR Thailand
Viet Nam
Secretariat
(operational body)
Source: Mekong River Commission Secretariat
Mekong River Commission governance structure