19th Joint Committee meeting - Mekong River Commission on track to relocate
MRC No.02/04
Ho Chi Minh City , 23 March 2004
The Mekong River Commission will hold the 19th meeting of its Joint Committee – a management body representing Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam - in Ho Chi Minh City from 25-26 March. The meeting confirms that work is proceeding normally in the run-up to the secretariat’s relocation from Phnom Penh to Vientiane in June 2004.
The MRC’s Annual Report for 2003 will be presented to the Joint Committee, which functions as the organisation’s executive body. The report shows that donor cooperation remained strong in 2003, with over US$7 million provided in new funding agreements and over US$21 million pledged for future support. Financially the Commission remains healthy, with an annual operating budget of US$10 to $12 million. A joint donor review ending in February 2004 by three of the MRC’s major donors - Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland - confirmed that the organisation’s programme activities remain on track. Over the next few months, an MRC regional flood management and mitigation centre will open in Phnom Penh, with donor support.
The MRC secretariat will relocate from Phnom Penh to Vientiane in June 2004. The MRC’s Documentation Centre, normally open to the public, will close for packing from 18 May. On 31 May, the secretariat building on Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, will close to the public. The MRC secretariat will open its doors on 1 July at 184 Fa Ngum Road, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
The relocation of the MRC secretariat is based on a decision by the MRC Council, its ministerial-level governing body, soon after the creation of the Mekong River Commission. The decision was that the MRC secretariat would rotate between Cambodia and Lao PDR, the two countries with capital cities located within the river basin.
The secretariat’s relocation occurs under Viet Nam’s chairmanship of the Joint Committee, a four-person management body representing Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The current chair of the Joint Committee is Mr Nguyen Hong Toan, Secretary-General of the Viet Nam National Mekong Committee. The Officer-in-charge of the MRC secretariat is Dr Dao Trong Tu. Chairmanship of the Joint Committee will rotate to Thailand in July 2004.
For more information about the 19th Council meeting, please contact:
In
Viet Nam - Ms Luong Thu Thuy, Programme Coordination Section,
19th Joint Committee meeting at the Rex Hotel, Ho Chi Minh city.
In
Cambodia – Ms Delia Paul, Communications Officer, phone:
local - (012)807-979 and international (855-12)807-979; fax:
(855-23)720-972 or email
delia@mrcmekong.org
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