[enviro-vlc] US pledges assistance for Mekong environment programmes

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From: Stephen Denney <srdenney at gmail.com>
Date: 22 July 2010 10:25:55 AM PDT
To: vnnews-l at anu.edu.au
Subject: [vnnews-l] FR-US:: US pledges assistance for Mekong environment programmes

US pledges assistance for Mekong environment programmes


Posted : Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:18:13 GMT
By : dpa
Category : Environment
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Hanoi - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged continued
assistance Thursday for US-led environment programmes in the Mekong
Delta.

Clinton spoke in Hanoi at the ASEAN Regional Forum, a gathering of
delegates from the ten-member Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN).

The programmes are part of the Lower Mekong Initiative, a joint effort
of the United States and the four lower Mekong countries - Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - focused on health, education,
infrastructure and the environment.

"Managing this resource and protecting it against threats is a
transnational challenge," Clinton said Thursday of the Mekong River
Basin. "Regional cooperation is essential to realizing that
challenge."

The US will provide more than 220 million dollars in funding to Lower
Mekong countries in fiscal year 2010, two-thirds of which goes to
environment, health and education.

Addressing ASEAN delegates Thursday, Clinton announced a "sister
river" partnership between the Mekong River Commission and the
US-based Mississippi River Commission. She also announced a new
three-year programme designed to promote adaptive responses to climate
change.

"We expect to continue similar levels of funding for the next two
years," Clinton said.

The US is also funding programmes to combat HIV/AIDS and pandemic
influenza in the region, Clinton said.

The Lower Mekong Initiative was created after a July 2009 meeting
between Clinton and the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand
and Vietnam.

More than 60 million people live in the Lower Mekong Basin, an area
comprising approximately 606,000 square kilometers in South-East Asia.
Climate change will likely increase flooding and threaten food
security in the region, the Mekong River Commission reports.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, the
Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Copyright DPA
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