(KPL) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director General of the Department of Economic Affairs Somboun Sihanath co-chaired with Melissa A. Brown, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State, the Mekong-U.S. Partnership (MUSP) Senior Officials’ Meeting held in Vangvieng, Laos on Jun 6. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary Brown re-affirmed the United States’ unwavering commitment to the Mekong subregion, and, together with officials from the five MUSP partner countries, resolved to deepen cooperation across MUSP’s priorities as reflected in the MUSP Plan of Action (POA) 2024-2026, which the United States and MUSP partner countries plan to finalize this year.  

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator Michael Schiffer joined the in-person meeting to share updates on the many USAID programmes implemented under the MUSP umbrella.  Deputy Assistant Secretary Brown also previewed several new projects in development under the four MUSP priority areas:  1) economic connectivity; 2) sustainable water use, natural resources management, and environmental conservation and protection; 3) non-traditional security; and 4) human resource development.

 The partner countries committed to work towards a potential MUSP Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in July.

KPL