The Government of Germany and the Mekong River Commission have signed a new commitment worth 3 million Euro to Technical Cooperation through GTZ to the MRC’s Flood Management and Mitigation Programme (FMMP), as pledged in the Donor Consultative Group on 15 November 2007 in Siem Reap.

The commitment was signed at the MRC Secretariat on 21 November 2007 by Mr. Hanspeter Schwär for the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and Mr Do Manh Hung, Officer-in-Charge of the MRCS.

Every year the Mekong floods claim lives and also cause millions of dollars worth of damage through loss of property and livestock.

The new Technical Cooperation will support two of the FMMP components.

Component 4 aims to strengthen capacities for disaster management boost capacity in flood disaster management. This component is working to ensure the improvement of existing emergency management systems in riparian countries to deal with the Mekong Floods more effectively, through capacity building, knowledge sharing and public awareness campaigns at the provincial, district and community levels.

Component 5 aims to improve land management techniques through the use of flood probability maps and will address the pressing issues of flood probability assessment techniques, improved land use planning methods and damage-reducing land management policies in order to achieve sustainable natural resource management in the Basin.

The aim of this Technical Cooperation is to improve the flood control policies of the MRC Member States bordering the lower Mekong as regards disaster management and land policy.

The projects will be implemented by GTZ the German development agency in 2008 and 2009.

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For More Information

Ms Tiffany Hacker, Interim Communication Advisor
Tel: +856 56120695 or +856 21 263 263 Ext. 4703
Email: damian@mrcmekong.org

Mr Khy Lim, Communications Officer
Tel: +856 20 5622 8131
Email: khy@mrcmekong.org