Dear Dr. Narongchai Akrasanee, Chairman of the Steering Committee

Dear Mr. Suriyan Vichitlekarn, Executive Director of Mekong Institute,

Dear colleagues,

Good afternoon. It’s my pleasure to attend today’s Steering Committee meeting, and I thank Dr. Narongchai and Mr. Suriyan for their briefings on the work progress of the Mekong Institute. China recognizes the progress of Institute made in the first half of 2022, and we look forward to strengthening cooperation with the Mekong Institute and members to jointly promote sustainable development and post-pandemic recovery in our subregion.

China has always been an important participant, constructor and contributor to the Greater Mekong Subregional Cooperation. In the face of COVID-19 pandemic, China and the Mekong countries have stood by each other. China supports the construction of medical systems in the Mekong countries, and has provided more than 200 million doses of vaccines to the Mekong countries. China has also fully utilized the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund for Public Health and trained more than 1,300 Traditional Chinese Medicine personnel for the Mekong countries, enhancing their health and safety systems.

Facing the pressure of economic recovery, China and the Mekong countries promote high-quality connectivity. The opening of the China-Laos Railway has helped turn the Laos from a "land-locked country" to a "land-linked country", which is of great significance for the land and sea connectivity of the whole Southeast Asia in the future. Until now, the railway has sent nearly 800,000 tons of cross-border cargo with more than 100 kinds of goods. The trade volume between China and the five Mekong countries reached US$ 398 billion in 2021, up 23% year-on-year; in the first half of this year, the trade volume between the two sides exceeded US$ 194.2 billion. China supports the Mekong Institute to carry out the projects in poverty reduction, digital connectivity and other areas through special funds, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Fund and corporate cooperation, injecting strong momentum to promote economic recovery in the subregion.

Earlier this month, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the 7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and announced that China will implement six plans benefiting the Lancang-Mekong countries, including the Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Action Plan on Lancang-Mekong Agricultural Cooperation, the Plan on Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Benefiting the People, the Cooperation Plan on Lancang-Mekong Digital Economy, the Lancang-Mekong Space Cooperation Plan, the Lancang-Mekong Talent Plan, and the Lancang-Mekong Public Health Cooperation Plan. We believe that the new plans will help to strengthen and promote the Lancang-Mekong cooperation and open up the next "golden five years" of the Lancang-Mekong cooperation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At present, the pandemic has swallowed years of global development gains, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been hampered, the North-South divide continues to widen, and a crisis in food and energy security has emerged. The calls for international justice are becoming stronger, and people's desire for development cooperation is becoming more urgent. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping solemnly proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI), aiming to unite the international community to refocus on development issues. So far, the GDI has been warmly received by more than 100 countries and international organizations, and more than 50 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative. Last month, President Xi Jinping hosted the High-level Dialogue on Global Development virtually and delivered an important speech, further proposing to foster a development paradigm featuring benefits for all, balance, coordination, inclusiveness, win-win cooperation and common prosperity. President Xi Jinping also announced China's important measures to implement the GDI, including setting up the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, enhancing support for the China-UN Peace and Development Fund and other initiatives to promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Recently, the consequences of the pandemic, regional conflicts, climate change, and unilateral sanctions have significantly driven up food prices with global food security facing serious challenges. At the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting held earlier this month, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, put forward China's Cooperation Initiative on global food security, including 8 proposals such as supporting the central role of the United Nations in coordination, major food-producing and net food-exporting countries to release their own export potential, supporting the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and cooperation among countries in agricultural science and technology innovation, reducing food loss and waste, and helping developing countries to enhance their capacity for food production, storage and loss reduction in terms of capital, technology, market and others.  China is willing to work with all parties to implement the initiative and enhance global and regional food security.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

"Drinking from the same river, sharing Lancang-Mekong emotions." In the face of the complex international situation and diverse challenges, China is willing to work with Mekong countries and the Mekong Institute,  to uphold the Lancang-Mekong concept of "development first, equality, practicality and efficiency, openness and inclusiveness". we should capitalize on the opportunities brought by booming regional cooperation, upgrade and drive the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation towards higher quality, make the Lancang-Mekong region a region of demonstration for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and a region of pioneering efforts under the GDI. We should strengthen global food security cooperation and maintain a bright future of peace, stability, development and prosperity for the subregion, in joint efforts of building an even closer community with a shared future for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation countries.

Thank you all!