dam-l LS: Mekong River pact signed

[owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net]

The Nation / 20 April 2000

Mekong River pact to be signed today

   FOUR Mekong riparian states will today sign an historic pact to open a
navigation route along the upper reaches of the 4,200kmlong Mekong River.
   The agreement marks an end to decades of political and geographic
barriers that have prevented cross-border navigation along that section of
the river.
   The pact will be signed today in the Burmese border town of Tachilek,
opposite Thailand's Chiang Rai province, by transport ministers from China,
Burma, Thailand and Laos.
   It will take effect one year from today.
   A four-party committee will meet afterwards in China to draft common
navigation rules.
   Dubbed the "Agreement on commercial navigation along the upper reach of
the Mekong River", it will allow commercial navigation covering 786km from
Simao in China's Yunnan Province, to Luang Prabang in northern Laos.
   Fourteen ports - China's Simao, Jinghong, Menghan and Guanlei; Laos' Ban
Sai, Xiengkok, Muangmom, Ban Khouane, Houaysai and Luang Prabang; Burma's
Wang Seng and Wan Pong and; Thailand's Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong - have
been designated as official ports able to handle goods and passengers.
   As part of the agreement, the parties concerned will not collect transit
fees from vessels authorised to operate along the route, and use will begin
without any alteration to the river's condition.
   Kobsak Chutikul, director general of the Foreign Ministry's economic
affairs department, said the agreement was the first concrete economic
framework signed under the 10yearold economic quadrilateral cooperation
agreement.
   The agreement covers areas of northern Thailand, northern Laos, northeast
Burma and China's southern province of Yunnan.
   The new transport route is expected to increase the flow of goods and
people and promote tourism in the region, where land transport is still
limited by inept infrastructure.
   The official said benefit-sharing from the project might not be equal
among the four participants, but this would be offset by several other
projects in the pipeline, to be made under the quadrangular cooperation.
   China stands to gain most from the river route's potential as it will
open up landlocked Yunnan to its southern neighbours.
   Thailand and Laos will benefit from an anticipated tourist boom expected
from the opening of this largely untapped river attraction.
   The navigation pact only won final approval at a meeting in Rangoon in
March, after being stalled for almost six years because of differences over
navigation safety, immigration, water levels and the environmental impact
   Laos initially feared that the agreement would lead to physical
adjustments to the river to facilitate navigation which could impact the
river's flows.
   Another hitch was a dispute about the river's name.
   Beijing negotiated successfully to call its section of the river - which
flows from Tibet through Yunnan - Mekong - LancangJing.
   Rangoon has not been cooperative during negotiations because of the small
gains expected for the country from its participation.
   The Burmese junta has been preoccupied with security risks in its
narcotic and insurgency-plagued area, the eastern Shan State, through which
the river passes.

BY KULACHADA CHAIPIPAT
The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/20nt02.shtml/

=====
Denis Johnson
Minneapolis, MN, USA
drjohnson1@uswest.net

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