Mekong-Mississippi Cooperation agreed

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chaired a meeting with her counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to discuss the issue of water management in the two rivers, which are equally polluted.

Since this is the first-ever meeting of this sort, participants did not go into deep detail but explored the possibility of developing cooperation in terms of water resources, Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing said.

There is a possibility that more Mekong-Mississippi meetings will be held on the sidelines of the yearly Asean Ministerial Meeting to sustain the cooperation, he said.

American water-management experts presented their method of managing the Mississippi as a guideline for countries in the lower Mekong basin, because both rivers have similar pollution problems, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wimon Kidchob said.

The meeting also explored cooperation in many other sectors, including education, training of experts on environmental conservation and human-resource development, she said.