Mekong River Commission
(Self-Description : edited August 2008)
THE Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 under an agreement between the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin came about as the four countries saw a common interest in jointly managing their shared water resources and developing the economic potential of the river.
Signed on 5 April 1995, it set a new mandate for the organisation “to cooperate in all fields of sustainable development, utilisation, management and conservation of the water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin”.
The agreement brought a change of identity for the organisation previously known as the Mekong Committee, which had been established in 1957 as the Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin - the Mekong Committee.
Since the 1995 Agreement, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has launched a process to ensure “reasonable and equitable use” of the Mekong River System, through a participatory process with National Mekong Committees in each country to develop procedures for water utilisation.
The MRC is supporting a joint basinwide planning process with the four countries, called the Basin Development Plan, which is the basis of its Integrated Water Resources Development Programme. The MRC is also involved in fisheries management, promotion of safe navigation, irrigated agriculture, watershed management, environment monitoring, flood management and exploring hydropower options.
The two upper states of the Mekong River Basin, the People’s Republic of China and the Union of Myanmar, are dialogue partners to the MRC.
The MRC is funded by contributions from the four member countries and from aid donors. Formal consultation with the donor community is carried out through an annual Donor Consultative Group meeting.
Structure
The MRC consists of three permanent bodies: The Council, the Joint Committee (JC) and the Secretariat.
The Council, which meets once a year, consists of one member from each country at ministerial or cabinet level. The Council makes policy decisions and provides other necessary guidance concerning the promotion, support, co-operation and co-ordination of joint activities and programmes in order to implement the 1995 Agreement. The Council has overall governance of the Mekong River Commission.
The Joint Committee (JC) consists of one member from each country at no less than Head of Department level. The Joint Committee is responsible for the implementation of the policies and decisions of the Council and supervises the activities of the Mekong River Commission Secretariat. This body functions as a board of management.
The MRC Secretariat in Vientiane, Lao PDR
The MRC Secretariat is the operational arm of the MRC. It provides technical and administrative services to the JC and the Council, is under the direction of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who is appointed by the Council. Under the supervision of the Joint Committee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is responsible for the day-to-day operations of around 120 professional and general support staff. The Secretariat is located in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Assistant CEO is of the same nationality as the JC Chair and serves a one-year term. The main counterparts for MRC activities in the four member countries are the National Mekong Committees (NMCs).
MRCS operational structure
The National Mekong Committees coordinate MRC programmes at the national level and provide links between the MRC Secretariat and the national ministries and line agencies. The principal implementing agencies of the MRC programmes and projects are the line agencies of the riparian countries in the Lower Mekong Basin. They are served by the respective National Mekong Committee Secretariats in each country.
Dialogue Partners China and Myanmar
In 1996 The MRC held its first Dialogue Meeting with its Dialogue Partners China and Myanmar.
On 1 April 2002 The People’s Republic of China signed an agreement on the provision of hydrological information on the Lancang/Mekong River. Under this agreement China now provides water level data in the flood season from two stations located on the Upper Mekong in China. This information is fed into the MRC’s flood forecasting system. Talks are under way to expand this data sharing agreement to include dry season levels. China contributes 16% of the flow of the Mekong River.
http://www.mrcmekong.org/