US, lower Mekong countries agree on development project

Foreign ministers from the United States and four countries in the lower Mekong basin Thursday agreed to set up a working group to develop Mekong-Mississippi cooperation.

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.

The Nation