Vietnam will be the first of four member nations to take over gauging stations on the Mekong River from the Mekong River Commission (MRC)’s Secretariat next January, the government’s website reported Wednesday.
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According to the website, the stations belong to the project of Hydrological Cycle Observing System that the Secretariat introduced at a national conference organized by MRC in cooperation with the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Hanoi on Wednesday.
The move is aimed to help guarantee the firm development of the river basin, the security of water resources and food, as well as to protect Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, the report quoted the Secretariat as saying.
It said the move is also part of the process where MRC will transfer its key functions such as collecting gauging data, supporting zoning plans, and warning against emergency states to its members -- Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam -- as of 2015.
The transfer will help MRC operate more stably, while improving the member countries’ independence, according to the Secretariat.
At the first MRC summit last April in Thailand, the members also agreed to make MRC financially independent as of 2030, the government’s news report said.
(Source: TNNews)
