At the Seventh Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Bagan, Myanmar on 4th July 2022, the Ministers, based on the consensus on cooperation in climate response and disaster risk reduction reached at the Third MLC Leaders’ Meeting on 24 August 2020, expressed support for deepening disaster management cooperation and welcomed the following statement issued by the disaster management authorities of the six Mekong-Lancang countries:

The six Mekong-Lancang countries, linked by mountains and rivers, are faced with common risks posed by natural disaters. Given the global climate change, natural disasters in the Mekong-Lancang region are getting more severe with extreme disasters occuring with greater frequency and intensity, posing serious threats to socio-economic development and people’s life and property. There is an urgent need for the six countries to strengthen cooperation and better address these common challenges with solidarity and concerted efforts.

In recent years, Mekong-Lancang countries have stepped up practical cooperation in disaster management on bilateral and multilateral platforms, which has yielded positive results and played an important role in enhancing disaster preparedness and response of the region. To further promote cooperation, and in line with the people-centered development and the principle of putting people and life first, the National Committee for Disaster Management of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam will explore the establishment of a Mekong-Lancang disaster management cooperation mechanism, to deepen practical cooperation in such areas as risk assessment, early warning, forecasting and monitoring, prevention and mitigation, preparedness and response and resilient recovery, and draw experience and good practices from each other, enhancing policy coherence and capacity-building, through innovative tools and appropriate policy, in order to better safeguard the life and property of the people of the six countries and contribute to the sustainable development of the region.

We firmly believe that strengthened solidarity and cooperation among the Mekong-Lancang countries will contribute to strong disaster response and more tangible outcomes in ASEAN-China disaster management cooperation and progress of national efforts on the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in all its dimensions, as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development!