Korea's Development Cooperation with the Mekong Region

Abstract

A regional cooperation project centered on a long river way passing through several nations, in addition to ensuring agreement between the nations involved, requires cooperation from the international community as a whole. This is because of potential conflict that may inevitably arise during the course of such a project; the types of conflict that the states get involved in may not be able to resolve on their own. The Mekong’s upper reaches is located in China, and five other developing nations of Southeast Asia are sharing its middle and downstream sections, which has made mutual agreement quite difficult. However, due to the high demand for development in the region, those involved have continued to adjust their positions accordingly and cooperate with each other in spite of the difficulties involved in developing the Mekong region. Support from multilateral development agencies and advanced nations have kept development moving forward up to this point, in terms of hardware infrastructure. Nations in the region have been active participants in the ADB-sponsored Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) program that began in 1992, which resulted in rapid buildup of physical infrastructure in the region. They are also cooperating through the Mekong River Commission (MRC) for projects to develop Mekong’s water resources, and also bolster human capital in the region through the Mekong Institute (MI). Connectivity between different regions around the Mekong have been strengthened recently; to promote the flow of goods, services, investments, capital and labor that would expedite development in the region.