According to the Yunnan Provincial Office of Commerce, the Joint
Coordination Committee of Navigation on Lancang-Mekong River held their
fifth meeting on March 6 in Lao's Champasak. The 3-day long meeting
concentrated on the commercial navigation on Lancang-Mekong river, so
as to seek a better way to promote the trade activities among the four
upper Mekong countries.

According to the sources, the development of Lancang-Mekong navigation
channel is being rapidly undertaken, under the inter-governmental
cooperation among China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and with
the massive support from international financial institutions such as
Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Netherlands and Sweden. In 2005, the
major cargo ship on the Lancang-Mekong River was upgraded from 150 DWT
to 250 DWT. This year, it will be upgraded to 300 DWT. This will reduce
the transportation cost by about 30%. The commercial navigation on
Lancang-Mekong river will become a reality.

Before that, according to the ADB's China Representative Office, ADB
will continue to offer a lum-sum of 25.57 million US dollars, to
promote the development and environmental protection of Mekong river
basin. Besides ADB, this year the government and financial institutions
of the Netherlands and Sweden, together with the "ADB Poverty
Cooperation Fund" supported by the British government, will offer
financial aid to the development and management of Lancang-Mekong river
basin. Altogether, it is estimated that 36.11 million dollars of
captial assistance will be committed to the Lancang-Mekong development
and management by the international financial institutions and
international organisations in 2006. The injection of capital from all
sides will serve as a basis for the construction of Lancang-Mekong
golden transportation channel, and help upgrade the whole navigation
development of Lancang-Mekong river.

During this meeting, the representatives from the four countries will
deeply discuss the practical issues including port charges, custom
inspection charges and navigation channel maintenance. It is intended
to further develop the economic and trade cooperation among the four
countries, when the overall conditions of Lancang-Mekong commercial
navigation is being improved.

Original Chinese version:
http://news.yninfo.com/yunnan/jingji/2006/3/1141712581_18/

(Translated by Kevin Li - kevinysli[at]gmail[dot]com)

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