The

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

–

Ganga The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary riv ...

Cooperation (MGC) was established on November 10, 2000, at Vientiane, Laos at the First MGC Ministerial Meeting. It comprises six member countries, namely

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

( Look-East connectivity projects),

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. The four areas of cooperation are

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, and

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

. The organization takes its name from the

and the

, two large rivers in the region.

Member Nations

* * * * * *

Annual Ministerial Meetings

The working mechanism for MGC consists of the Annual Ministerial Meeting (back to back with ASEAN Ministerial Meeting), the Senior Official's Meeting, and the five Working Groups namely; *Working Group on Tourism (Thailand is the lead country) *Working Group on Education (HRD) (India is the lead country) *Working Group on Culture (Cambodia is the lead country) *Working Group on Communication & Transportation (Laos PDR is the lead country) *Working Group on Plan of Actions (Vietnam is the lead country)

Second MGC Ministerial Meeting

At the Second MGC Ministerial Meeting held in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

on July 28, 2001, the member countries adopted the Hanoi Programme of Action affirming their commitment to cooperate in four areas of cooperation. The “Hanoi Programme of Action” has 6 years timeframe from 2001 to 2007 and the progress of its implementation shall be reviewed every two years.

Third MGC Ministerial Meeting

At the Third MGC Ministerial Meeting held in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

on June 20, 2003, the member countries adopted the Phnom Penh Road Map as a plan to accelerate the implementation of all MGC projects and activities. The Second ASEAN Informal Summit, held in Kuala Lumpur on 15 December 1997, adopted the ASEAN Vision 2020 which sets out a broad vision for ASEAN in the year 2020: an ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian Nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies. In order to implement the long-term vision, action plans are being drawn up to realise this Vision. The Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) is the first in a series of plans of action building up to the realisation of the goals of the Vision. The HPA has a six-year timeframe covering the period from 1999 to 2004. The progress of its implementation shall be reviewed every three years to coincide with the ASEAN Summit Meetings. In recognition of the need to address the current economic situation in the region, ASEAN shall implement initiatives to hasten economic recovery and address the social impact of the global economic and financial crisis. These measures reaffirm ASEAN commitments to closer regional integration and are directed at consolidating and strengthening the economic fundamentals of the Member Countries.

Fourth MGC Ministerial Meeting

Fourth MGC Ministerial Meeting was held January 12, 2007 at

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

. In this meeting Thailand has handed over the chairmanship of MGC to India. There was no Ministerial Meeting in 2002 and 2004 because the AMM meeting was held in Brunei and Indonesia respectively.

Fifth MGC Ministerial Meeting

The 5th MGC meeting was held on August 1, 2007, in Manila.

Sixth MGC Ministerial Meeting

Sixth Mekong–Ganga Cooperation meeting was held in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

on 3–4 September 2012. Senior officials meeting was held on September 3 whereas the Foreign Ministers meet was held on September 4, 2012. This is the first time that the Mekong Ganga Cooperation meeting was hosted by

. India had earlier chaired the 5th MGC Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

Meetings.

Seventh MGC Ministerial Meeting

The Seventh Mekong Ganga Cooperation Ministerial Meeting (7th MGC MM) was held on 24 July 2016 in Vientiane, chaired by H.E. Mr.

Saleumxay Kommasith Saleumxay Kommasith (; born 31 October 1968) is a Laotian politician who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos since April 2016. He is one of 13 members of 11th Politburo of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. He was reelected as Min ...

, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR. The Ministers emphasized that collaboration under MGC must be given a sense of urgency since it actively supports the Initiative for ASEAN Integration, and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, and contribute towards the implementation of th
ASEAN Community Vision 2025
The mutual agreements revolved mainly around trade enhancement, investments in projects, maritime connectivity, sharing information and cooperation in Pandemic management, concord food security in tandem with strong underpinning of historical cultural ties among the nations in the region.

Ninth MGC Ministerial Meeting

The ninth Mekong–Ganga Cooperation Meeting was held in Singapore on August 2, 2018. The conference was preceded by the 10th MGC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on August 1. The meeting was co-chaired by Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and Gen V.K. Singh (Retd.), Minister of State for External Affairs. Senior ministers from Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam also attended the meeting. The Eleventh Mekong–Ganga Cooperation Senior Officials' Meeting was held in New Delhi on 9 July 2019. The Tenth Mekong–Ganga Cooperation Ministerial Meeting was held in Thailand's Bangkok on 1 August 2019. The Twelfth Mekong–Ganga Cooperation Senior Officials' Meeting was held virtually due to COVID-19 on 3 September 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mekong-Ganga Cooperation International organizations based in Asia International economic organizations Foreign relations of India Foreign relations of Thailand Foreign relations of Myanmar Foreign relations of Cambodia Foreign relations of Laos Foreign relations of Vietnam Organizations established in 2000 Greater Mekong Subregion Cambodia–Vietnam relations