Vientiane, Lao PDR

Following the discussion at the GWP-SEA Meeting in Yogyakarta, AWGWRM invited GWP-SEA to attend at the Ninth Meeting of AWGWRM on 21 July 2009, in Vientiane, Lao PDR . Since the Chair for some reasons was unable to travel to Laos, in this occasion GWP-SEA had been represented by Mr.Somvang Bouttavong, a member of Lao Water Partnership who was a GWP-SEA SC Member up to February 2008.

The presentation of GWP-SEA highlighted the historical relationship between the two organizations, AWGWRM and GWP-SEA. Highlighted also was the fact that a number of AWGWRM representatives were either current members or former members of GWP-SEA SC.

As possible areas for cooperation between the two organizations had been raised, there were no objections to the proposal for future cooperation between AWGWRM and GWP-SEA.  However, since most collaborations in the past were project-specific, as the one being proposed by MRC (Mekong River Comission) , the one being proposed by GWP-SEA was not but more general in nature. The ASEAN Secretariat revealed that a similar arrangement was made in the past between ASEAN and UNEP and a copy of the MOU will be given for reference.

The next step is for AWGWRM to present their recommendations at the ASEAN Senior Officials of the Environment meeting in Myanmar in August 2009 where the collaboration with MRC and GWP-SEA will be proposed.