Along the Lancang—Mekong： Forging a Path Towards Peace and Development

Originating in southwest China as the Lancang River and meandering southward across Chinas border with Southeast Asia， the Mekong flows through Myanmar， Laos， Thailand， Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. Nurtured by the cross-border river， the peoples of these six nations are connected by a shared aspiration to pursue a new path of development； hence the creation of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation （LMC） mechanism， which forges a river of peace and development and aims to bring benefits to the people living along its banks.

At the beginning of 2018， Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to Cambodia， where he attended the Second LMC Leaders Meeting. Convened under the theme “Our River of Peace and Sustainable Development”， the meeting aimed to chart the future course of the LMC into the next decade. Guests from all six member countries discussed the development path they should follow to allow for a smooth transition of the cooperation mechanism from its initial incubation stage to a period of sustained stable growth. Regional peace is the prerequisite ensuring a favorable environment for achieving the mechanisms goals of sustainable development and eventually building a community of shared future of peace and prosperity among Lancang-Mekong countries.

Since its establishment， the LMC has steadily evolved from a proposal into reality. Through the adoption of the mechanisms conceptual paper on regional cooperation， the LMC has identified the three key pillars of its current work （political and security issues， economic and sustainable development， and social， cultural and people-to-people exchanges） and five priorities for cooperation （connectivity， production capacity， cross-border trade， water resources， and agriculture and poverty alleviation）， thus showing that the mechanism keeps in steps with the times， conforms with public opinion and contains considerable potential for the six countries along the Lancang-Mekong River to promote their common development.