The U.S. government said that it will provide $53 million for projects in environment and water, health, education, connectivity, food security and energy security in five Lower Mekong countries, including Vietnam. The commitment was made at the 4th Regional Working Group Meeting of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) held by the LMI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam’s biggest city of Ho Chi Minh. At the two-day meeting, 90 LMI delegates discussed and proposed specific cooperation programs and projects in the above areas to be deployed in the next three years with the funding from the U.S. LMI will set aside $2 million from the funding for the fisheries partnership program and $1 million for a hydropower study by the Mekong River Commission. LMI was formed in 2009 on the initiative of the U.S. with six members including the U.S. and five countries in the Lower Mekong Basin namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Currently, development of hydroelectric dams in the Lower Mekong Basin is drawing a lot of attention because food security for over 60 million people living along the Lower Mekong Basin would be seriously threatened if more dams were built. (thesaigontimes.vn Apr 27)
