Asia
15th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
On 26 July, commencing at 12:35 p.m. (local time) for approximately 50 minutes, the 15th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Vientiane, Laos. The meeting was co-chaired by Ms. KAMIKAWA Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and H.E. Mr. Saleumxay Kommasith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR and attended by delegates of the Mekong countries.
At the meeting, Minister Kamikawa and the representatives of the Mekong countries adopted the “Mekong-Japan Cooperation Strategy 2024” and decided to steadily implement Mekong-Japan cooperation projects based on the three pillars: (1) Resilient and connected society in the post-COVID-19 world and sustainable urbanization (2) Digitalization, and (3) Proactive response to non-traditional security issues, to succeed the ‘Tokyo Strategy for Mekong-Japan Cooperation 2018’, the guiding principles for Mekong-Japan cooperation adopted at the 2018 Mekong-Japan Summit.
- At the outset, Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay expressed his honour to co-chair the Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting with Minister Kamikawa for the first time in three years (First time in 5 years in person), and welcomed the steady progress of Mekong-Japan cooperation and expressed his appreciation for Japan's contribution to the socio-economic development of the Mekong region. Minister Kamikawa then stated that, while further developing the framework of Japan-Mekong cooperation, Japan would like to develop together with the Mekong region, which is the driving engine of world economic growth and is an extremely important partner for Japan economically, geopolitically and diplomatically. She expressed her desire to work together on presentday challenges as partners for peace and prosperity, based on the high level of trust between Japan and the Mekong region through long-standing cooperation.
- Minister Kamikawa stated that Mekong-Japan cooperation has made steady progress in line with the Tokyo Strategy 2018 and that Japan has strongly supported regional frameworks such as the Mekong River Commission and the ACMECS. She expressed her desire to promote cooperation in new areas such as GX/DX with the Mekong countries, which have abundant future potential, as “Partners for Co-creation of Economy and Society of the Future,” while working on enhancing connectivity in various fields, both hard and soft. The Mekong countries commended the strong progress made in JapanMekong cooperation despite the difficult circumstances such as the COVID-19 outbreak and said that they would continue to work closely together for the sustainable development of the Mekong region, which is the core of the Indo-Pacific region.
- Minister Kamikawa stated that improvement of the situation in Myanmar is an important issue to further advance the Japan-Mekong cooperation, and strongly urged the Myanmar military to release those who are detained and swiftly restore Myammar’s democratic political system. In particular, she urged the Myanmar military to immediately stop the air strikes to prevent further casualties, with regard to the immediate cessation of violence. Minister Kamikawa also strongly supported ASEAN's efforts to resolve the situation in Myanmar, including the “Five-Point Consensus,” and stated that Japan would like to continue to work closely with the Mekong countries for peace and prosperity in the Mekong region.
Participating countries
Japan (co-Chair), Lao PDR (Co-Chair), Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Myanmar