Mekong hydropower could conflict with other benefits: Kerry

 

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that hydropower development along the Mekong River could conflict with other benefits.

"You have this tension between the purposes, unless they're approached thoughtfully and correctly," he told foreign ministers from the Lower Mekong Initiative gathered in Nay Pyi Taw for the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.

"Short-term economic gains, no matter how promising they are, cannot come at the expense of the long-term economic stability and ecosystem of the river," he said. 

Launched by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009, the Lower Mekong Initiative initially comprised Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar joined at the annual meeting of foreign ministers in Phnom Penh in 2012.

INCREASING ACCESS TO ENERGY AND FOOD AT THE SAME TIME

"All of us together have a responsibility and the ability to be able to find a way to build on the economic growth that this region is seeing and to increase the access to both energy and food at the same time," Kerry said. 

"But we can only do that if we continue to make ourselves the thoughtful stewards of the Lower Mekong Basin, and it has to be a priority."

Kerry said the initiative was a "primary means to promote prosperity among all five of the partner countries" and a  "critical means of achieving ASEAN's own goal of narrowing the development gap between ASEAN countries."

Over the next five years, "we're prepared to pursue a path that is focused on the cross-cutting challenges that face all of the LMI partners, including the intersection of water, energy, and food security." 

Kerry noted the success of recent programs in the areas of infrastructure and connecting US government officials to partners who need technical and scientific assistance.

"We launched them last year, and we've already received a dozen requests for assistance from LMI-member countries. And progress on several of these requests is already underway.

"With LMI's newly focused approach, we hope to even pool more resources to achieve clear concrete policy objectives.

EMINENT AND EXPERT PERSONS GROUP

"A big part of that will be the new LMI Eminent and Expert Persons Group, the EEPG, which we're very pleased to announce here today. This group will include government and nongovernment specialists from a wide range of nations. 

"Together, they will serve as a sort of intellectual steering committee. They can help us find new ways to promote a sustainable future for the Mekong," the secretary said.

Kerry said State Department Counselor Tom Shannon would travel to the region later this year "to discuss these issues and to build on the work that we are doing here today."

The LMI is a "very important initiative," he said. "This is an extraordinary river, which provides livelihood, movement of goods, commercial traffic, food, sustenance to millions of people. 

"And it's a river that I got to know very well years ago. And I saw not only the natural beauty, but I got to see the remarkable amount of commerce and movement and importance of this river to the entire framework of the region. 

"It is central to the economic lifeblood of the entire region. It sustains the lives of more than 70 million people."

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