 The United States, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam announced the new Mekong U.S. partnership. This new partnership builds on 11 years of successes achieved under the lower Mekong initiative, with U.S. assistance so far totaling almost $3.5 billion. The Mekong region is growing fast. Its populations are young and dynamic. The Mekong River is the lifeblood of the region, vital to the livelihoods of over 60 million people who depend on the river for water, food, and energy. It is critical that the Mekong region remains secure and economically vibrant. The Mekong U.S. partnership will promote energy security and counter transnational crime, such as trafficking in persons, narcotics, arms, and wildlife. The partnership will support environmental conservation by promoting transparency and accountability in the management of water and other shared natural resources, including through the Mekong River Commission. The people of the Mekong region deserve good partners, partners like the U.S. and others who share our commitment to transparency and the rule of law. Together, we can ensure a brighter future for the Mekong. Visit MekongUSPartnership.org to learn more about the new Mekong U.S. partnership. Good morning, everyone from Washington, D.C. Good afternoon in Asia. My name is David Feith. I'm the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, focused on multilateral affairs in the Indo-Pacific region. It is really a great privilege to be joining all of you from across Southeast Asia. Please let us know in the comments where you're watching from. As our State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortegas just described, the MekongUS Partnership is a very exciting new development in U.S. relations with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. We have had a long and successful partnership with the Mekong countries, including many important programs through the lower Mekong Initiative, LMI, and support throughout this year in the difficult time that we're all dealing with with a global pandemic. We have given just in recent months $52 million to Mekong partners for emergency assistance to combat COVID-19, along with a wide range of consultations among our senior diplomats and among many experts and doctors and public health professionals working on this shared challenge in our country and across the Mekong region. We also work with our U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which has invested a billion dollars in Southeast Asia and is working to invest and catalyze billions more in the coming near future. Our nations and our peoples have long-lasting and historic shared ties and shared experiences. We have learned an enormous amount from each other and we continue to do so. Working on that history, we have just launched the new Mekong-U.S. partnership to support sustainable growth and development with our Mekong partners. And it's that partnership that I am very excited to be discussing with you all today. To do this, I'd like to introduce some very special guests from across the region. First I would like to introduce Dr. Chen Ti-Nuk-Bick. Dr. Bick Chen is the Vice Dean of the Agriculture and Aquaculture School at Travin University. She works on managing many projects with a focus on sustainable agriculture and sustainable development. She is focused on scientific research in the fields of shrimp farming, fish reproduction, health care diseases, and the growth and development of aquatic species. Dr. Bick Chen attended the U.S. Lower Mekong Initiative Young Scientist Program in 2018. That's an annual competition for student scientists to win seed money for innovative solutions to environment, water, energy, and food security challenges. We are very privileged to have her with us today. Welcome Dr. Bick Chen. Thank you. Next I'd like to introduce Mr. Palakon Chanbanyong. He is an experienced young professional working on a variety of issues affecting sustainable development in the Mekong River Basin. Mr. Palakorn works as a sustainable hydropower specialist for the Mekong River Commission Secretariat and is the project lead on promoting sustainable hydropower in the Mekong River Basin. I note that Mr. Palakorn has the MRC logo here with him on the screen. And Mr. Palakorn will speak about his participation in a number of Lower Mekong Initiative programs that have been focused on promoting sustainable practices for the Mekong River. Welcome and thanks Mr. Palakorn. Hello everyone. Yeah, I'm looking forward to chatting with you all. Thank you. Fantastic, thank you. Finally I'd like to introduce Mrs. Mao Sokni. Mrs. Sokni is Chief of the Entomology Unit at the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology, and Malaria Control in Cambodia. She has worked for more than 10 years in the field of mosquito control and has an extensive background in both research and practice. She is the co-author of many scientific papers and has been involved in numerous research endeavors with the United States, including at our National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and via the President's Malaria Initiative. Mrs. Sokni is another young scientist program alumni. She also participated in the 2018 U.S. Lower Mekong Initiative program on mosquito control and mosquito-borne diseases. Welcome Mrs. Sokni. Fantastic, thank you. Now for our live audience online, please put any questions you have for our three panelists in the comments. I can see them right here. But first we are very privileged to be able to hear from each of our three panelists about their work. Then we will very happily take as many questions as we can. Dr. Big Chen, let's please start with you. When your friends, family, colleagues ask about the most memorable parts of your experience with the Lower Mekong Initiative young scientist program, what stands out most for you? Many frame memories during four weeks working together. And for me, the most memories are the last week that we build and develop our prototype together. This is also the very stressful week when we need to work very hard to finish our prototype. And as you know, we're coming from very different countries, different education backgrounds, and also not the same career. Some of us were lecturers, researchers, and some of us were like the government staff and also freelancers. So therefore we had a very different impact about our Lower Mekong questions. Therefore it's not easy to decode together when we hear the topics. But luckily, we are young scientists in the Lower Mekong, and we also had the same purpose, the same object to work together. And then when we had the same objectives, it's very easy for us to move on, to share our idea, our suggestion on how to improve the Lower Mekong problem. And I thought it's very wonderful and it's in memory for me when all the young scientists working and sharing their knowledge, their appearance, their research, and the technology from their country to develop our Lower Mekong. Thank you. Fantastic. Thank you very much for that. And for everyone watching, please put any questions you have for Dr. Big Chen in the comments, and we will look forward to getting to them. I will be very curious, Dr. Big Chen, if you could highlight perhaps some of what you learned from your peers in the Young Scientist program, the other young scientists who did it with you, and what were the things that you were most proud to know that they would learn from you? I learned a lot from the MI family members. So at first, I learned how to well collaborate with friends from different countries and where I improve my communication skill. And the second is how I can improve the skill of sharing and changing the knowledge and appearance to others, especially if they're very deep in research or the new technology. The first one I learned from the MI family members did it with the patient because we are all young scientists coming from different regions of the Lower Mekong and we are not the same field. So sometimes we have the same idea and very difficult to it land to decurse all the concrete order, but however, we had the same point to build and develop our better makeup. So another reason I think the patients are very much important because we are non-native English speakers. So sometimes we also had the problem of the English communication and so we need more patience to listen and understand each other. And last but not least, I think this is the first strong release together. The Lower Mekongs want to achieve the guns and they need the young scientists of the region working together. And I think that the MI programs are the wonderful programs and very successful programs of the first step to link on the young scientists in the Lower Mekong together. And later, we had a strong connection and more chance to collaborate to develop and create a green and September makeup. So that's all the things that I learned from the MI family members. And the second question you asked me was I learned from them. So I thought I also leave some good memories to my MI families about my energetics, my rally, the willing to start and learn. And luckily in 2018, the program organized in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. So therefore I had many chance to express my wrongs and the local kind. But I think the more interesting to MI members about me is my win-win style. So many of us like when we worked in the big group together, we need to think equally and patient to share and inquiry the members like who decide to talk are less apparent about the current topic. So it will be a lot of the members to work at the team and they think that like the team wants to want to be win. So everything needs to win their shell first. And the group wants to be strong, not to building a connection with members of the audience. Thank you. That's great. Thank you for sharing that experience. The point about non-native English speaking is especially powerful. We think about language skills a lot in the State Department. And I'm constantly bowled over by our different partners like all of you on the line who not only are specialists in all sorts of areas and internationally active but doing it all in a language other than your native language. It is very impressive and something that certainly I have in mind here as I do this only in my native language. On the subject of the Young Scientist Program, I'm very happy to share that we will continue to invest in the next generation of scientists and of young professionals in the areas of environment and public health, entrepreneurship and scientific skills generally. In 2021, our programs will focus on innovation in agricultural technologies. We will very much look forward to the next round of innovative ideas and cutting edge innovation that we get from the Young Scientist collaboration. Something that is particularly exciting about the Mekong-US partnership is that it will expand all of these types of opportunities for professionals promoting sustainable development and education in the region, exemplified of course by our panelists. Before we hear from Mr. Palakon, I'd be very happy to tell you a little bit more about the Mekong-US partnership. The United States and the five Mekong partner countries launched the partnership just two weeks ago to expand cooperation on many of the issues that we are discussing today. We did this in a meeting with all the foreign ministers from the five Mekong partner countries. We decided to expand this cooperation because obviously of the tremendous potential in the Mekong countries and in US Mekong partnership to work closer on all of the economic needs that our countries have to fight COVID-19 and to protect the rich resources of the Mekong River, for example. The Mekong-US partnership builds on the lower Mekong initiative that came before it, which from 2009 to 2019 provided some 3.5 billion US dollars in assistance for programs like the ones we're discussing today. We look forward to learning more throughout our discussion here about how this programming has made a difference in the Mekong and we certainly look forward to building on this strong foundation with the expanded and elevated Mekong-US partnership. Our next panelist, as we heard Mr. Palakon, has experience working on several LMI programs, including with our US Department of Energy on hydropower and water resources management, also with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Geological Survey, and Arizona State University, a fantastic private sector partner of ours with many extensive programs in Southeast Asia and the Mekong region. Mr. Palakon's programs all supported the Mekong River Commission to coordinate a shared vision for basin development among Mekong countries while carefully weighing water, energy, and food trade-offs with the NextView program. All of these programs and great partners work to support the Mekong River Commission in its extremely important work to manage the Mekong's shared resources. So it's a really great privilege to be able to hear from Mr. Palakon on these issues. I would ask Mr. Palakon, could you tell us a bit more about your experiences with these programs, what you've learned from engaging US experts, and what US experts would have had the privilege to learn also from you? Thank you. Yeah, thank you for the question. So I would say it's always a good experience for me to work on the several LMI programs and also regarding to the issue of the Mekong and also idol power development in this region. So like you said, right now MRC tried to have and working together with US experts on the NextView on the decision support model, and this is because its shared vision planning too, these two will promote on the good governance and also transparent cooperation. And in addition, I also have several web workshops organized by the US program and also, for example, on the river planning for energy environmental and as well as on the Mekong SQAD idol power management issue. So just come to the point, what I have learned from the engagement with the US. So I would say knowledge and also some experience that US has the intensive on this, we were basing development and also especially on the idol power development and management because I would say the development always cause two sides, the positive side and negative sides. So therefore, if we learn the experience from the US in the past, it will help us a lot in order to strengthen the positive benefit and also mitigate the negative impact from the basing development management. And on the other hand, when we work together with this US expert, they can also learn from us as well in terms of the local issue because when we want to solve the river basing issue, it's not just only the knowledge no have and to only, we need some understanding about the challenge that we are basing right now at the present in the Mekong river basing in order to solve the problem in the right context. So that's why I would say in some, when we work together as a partnership like Mekong US partnership, the result of our effort become reward and we can learn and exchange each other in order to solve the Mekong challenge issue on the river basing and management that we are facing right now. So this is a very good experience for me as a waste and to work with the US expert team. Fantastic. Thank you for that. Thank you very much for sharing for our live audience. Please put any questions you have for Mr. Palakon in the comments. We will continue to collect them. Mr. Palakon, I'm curious if you could share some thoughts in thinking about the programs that you've attended, how they have connected to your home institution represented by the logo you have on screen, how they would have helped the Mekong river commission as an institution. It's one that certainly we and we know everyone devoted to sustainable development in the region values very much. How would those programs have affected the work of the MRC as an institution and of course through that the people of the Mekong region? Yeah, there are several so far from the US that can help us on the river basin planning and also management in the Mekong river basin. For example, for the first one is called Mekong water data initiative. This one helps prosperity management of the Mekong river through the data sharing and also on the science-based decision-making and the one that I just mentioned is called the next real program. This one is also help Mekong country and in order to plan and also make the decision on the river basin or Mekong river development by visualize our MRC data. So these were supported by Arizona State and also this will help a lot in order to enable the Mekong community to export possible impact and trade out of the water, energy and food resource management choice. And we also have exchange programs for sister river exchange. This is try to promote and share of the best practice between MRC and Mississippi river commissions with ongoing exchange issues. For example, dam safety, share region planning and also other issues. So this is also the good exchange program that we are working on together with U.S. partner. And another one that we just almost finished is about the development of the Mekong basin development strategy. So this one U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also assists us in order to share the best practice between MRC and Mississippi river commission. So this is help a lot when we share on our Mekong basin development strategy for the next 10 years that for 2021 until 2020, 2030. And another one is about the Serbia Mekong. This is also good support from U.S. that try to help Mekong country reduce on the drought and in order to make sure that we have the drought early warning platform to help forecast and also track the damage of the effect of the drought in the Mekong basin. So this is some of the example that we learned from U.S. and is very good from the cooperation between Mekong and U.S. in order to support and help us on the river basin planning and management in our basin. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing all that. The insights from your experience in the MRC secretariat and in these programs is invaluable. It's exactly the kind of impact that we seek in these programs. And on all of these efforts of environment, of energy, business, these are efforts that we are certainly proud of and really excited and privileged to be able to be expanding with all of you and with a very wide range of official and private counterparts in all of your countries. To hear more about this, I'd love to throw it over to Mrs. Sokni. Mrs. Sokni, thanks again for joining us. Could you tell us a bit about your experience with the Young Scientist program and what that was like for your work and for your development in your field? Well, when I started to know the alumni program, in 2008, when I was introduced to the alumni ISP vector control study, it means that the Mekong Initiative International Study program in U.S. And this is, I need to say, to my director and my colleague Jessica Manning. She is from the National Institute of Electric and Infection. This is who gave me the opportunity to study in the U.S. for the short training. And through the network, then I can, through the network, I joined the civic program in Laos that under the title, under the top page of the public health and bioinformatics training. So this is like Dr. Bin and Mr. Panacon already said that this is what kind of the training that it's not only the public health person or health background to join the training. It is like the training that combines all the skilled people that related to the health and the bioinformatics. That for me, it really like the first time that I joined the training with the participant that not helping the health background but joined the public health training. And of course, they are really the people that are very skilled like the people from the agriculture like Dr. Bin or from the water and energy from like Mr. Panacon and the lecturer, the private company, they are all together, sit together and find the solution how it is to combat the better control or to combat the vegetable diseases such as the dengue fever that like in the common disease in the Lomecon, any Lomecon program that Lomecon country that it really the disease, the common one that everybody tried to find the solution to combat for that. So this is what I, the training is look like that. Fantastic. Thank you for that. The sorts of connections that you describe between medical professionals, public health professionals, government, non-government, business and otherwise, those are exactly some of the connections that we hope to help facilitate. We know that there's an enormous amount of benefit that can come from exactly those sorts of cross connections that you've described that Mr. Panacon described as well. For everyone watching online, please continue to add questions into the comments and we will turn to them for all of our participants very shortly. I would ask to go back to Mrs. Sokny, could you tell us a bit about how you've used the experience that you've had in the Young Scientist program in your work in the two years since you completed the program? Well, let's say when, what did I got from the program? For me it's one, we have the two things, first thing is the direct result of the direct output that I got from the program, it's the prototype. That the prototype that is not only the prototype that we created, like Dr. Jin, she already mentioned, it's not the prototype that we created for the training but it's the prototype that we just try to have the prototype that it's just like the one tool, the starting tool that we need to do in during our training by the guidance, by the lecturer or we try to create what we have learned during the training to sit together like Dr. Jin already mentioned, to sit together and then exchange different ideas of different cultures. So let's say it's the prototype that created by the very skilled people from the different backgrounds and from the different perspectives but they have one common sense, a common target is to target the vector-borne disease in the country and on that prototype on that time we try to use the to combat the dengue fever that is the vector-borne disease like I said before in the common disease for it really the big challenge for the alumni country. So for me the direct result I got from I got the prototype that it is my starting point to it like one tool, the starting tool that we can use for further work in the reality. So in brief it's just like it's just like not the other training that when we have the assignment and then we finish and then after that it finished but this training when we finish we finish the training it's just like the starting point to work to continue with our our result that we thought it so this is what I really and like I really happy to get to to join this program and very excited for that and and now even my prototype was not selected but my colleague prototype was born the shift grand then I and I hope she can she can do the shift grand to start the pilot project in in their country and then after this successful for the for that kind of the prototype and then they can extend to the other country so we have this kind in the group like this and for the ending and the second thing is the indirect result that I got or the indirect output that we got from the training like Dr. Jin she already mentioned that I noted at the beginning it to sit together to deal with the people that have the different different language different maybe culture it a bit slightly different but although we have a different culture the different language the different perspective because we have to sit together from the different skill not like me I'm not the I am the better controlled person so I need to sit with the IT person or to sit with the agriculture person and also the people from the water energy to sit together how to deal with the with the mosquito like this so it's some kind that that is the indirect indirect output that we got that I learned how to deal with with this kind of the people with the people that have have much knowledge and many knowledge on that many knowledge but many variety variety and and to to fight each other or to to fight each other or to to build it to uh let's say how to to control try how to control each other so because I remember during the group discussion it's not only with my group but if the other group they also they have we have many conflicts like Dr. Jin she said we have many conflicts on that but anyway at the end of the program at the end of the day we can we can sit together and talk because we have the brand and then we say okay this is your idea this is my idea and then we check put how to find what is the the middle that same like this okay fantastic thank you for that I should say that that at the recent launch of the Mekong US partnership in the diplomatic meetings every one of the Mekong country foreign ministers mentioned specifically the young scientists program and we were very pleased by that uh our our senior bosses uh took note of it as well it was really obvious that the the young scientists program has made its mark uh in in some of the very ways that that our friends on the line have have explained and and that is something that we are uh very pleased with and very uh keen to be expanding going forward uh our two young scientists uh panelists today have exemplified all of this and of course exemplified the role in particular of women in the STEM areas and uh certainly shown a model for for our programming and and of course for the whole region as well I'm seeing that we're gathering comments here for for questions for the group from our online audience before we um before we get there I am happy to share just a bit more about the some of the US efforts to support training and education one in particular that is very new and very much a focus of our attention at the moment is that we recently launched the young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Academy at Fulbright University Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City the Fulbright University Vietnam has been a a platform that we have been very proud to support for more than 20 years and uh with enormous effects uh on Vietnam-US partnership and on broader regional education and development that we are very happy to support and to be a part of the new Y.C. Lee Academy will offer capacity building training for entry to mid-level professionals aged 25 to 40 this will focus on training in areas uh that are of course of interest across Southeast Asia will draw participants from across Southeast Asia and focus in particular on technology innovation entrepreneurship and public policy it is a another great example of some of the fantastic partnerships that we're very glad to have and to be building together across our whole of society and yours as well now I'm seeing the these questions accumulate here for our for our panelists from the from the audience online let me uh let me see here it seems uh so the first question is for the group in thinking about the future of Mekong-US engagement in what areas in particular would you like to see closer Mekong-US collaboration uh first why don't we start with with Dr. Big Chen well um in the futures um a lot of time we need to work together between the U.S. and Vietnam but for my my effect because I working for the sustainability of agriculture and our cultures so I um I hope that the we have more program uh from the U.S. we will be sending some effort to to train the Vietnamese farmers to work in the new standard of the agriculture like the local crops and uh it's all I also wish that the the U.S. governments will be like offering the markets like will be a part more of the Vietnamese product to the U.S. it will be have the farmers uh Vietnamese farmers to to operate their farming system yeah so it might affect from the the future the low future of the uh collaborate between the U.S. and Vietnam yeah thank you fantastic thank you Mr. Palakon yeah for the future cooperation between um U.S. and also Mekong and I think the most important thing is about the data information sharing and to get the data information it's also important that we need some technology tools and also know how from the U.S. in order to use the remote sensing product or um observation product in order to get those kind of uh data information because right now the data is very important in order to make sure that we are planning the river basins in with the sufficient information uh backup otherwise we cannot plan on the river basin planning and also management not so well if not we don't have enough information so that's why in the future we would like to say and we would like to see the the more cooperation and also support from the U.S. to the Mekong country on on this kind of technology and to uh in order to make sure that we have enough um information and also data for the readers uh river basin planning and fantastic thank you for that it brings to mind I uh I don't know exactly when on the calendar but I think just later this morning I know that that we have some meetings with uh with some uh a range of partners in Washington and elsewhere uh NGOs and think tanks I think the Stimson Center which has done very important work on this uh colleagues also from from universities and from Capitol Hill on the very subject of of Mekong River data sharing and and and its importance and how we might be able to work together on on exactly that uh I would throw the the same question that we've gotten for the group um to to Mrs. Sokneet yeah it's for me for me because I am the hell back I am come from the the medical the hell medical so the thing that I would like to support first it's just like the something related to the hill but as I know that we have many projects that it's already cooperated for the health sector but anyway up to the the our why uh why minister that they have the asian meeting last uh yesterday or before yesterday we asked more that uh the U.S. can help us more on the on the COVID-19 technical or equipment something but beside the hell now beside the hell the the it's out of my feel or it's just my personal thinking that I I have such during my training it's just like the invitation for the girl because I think for I would like to have the the U.S. support more of the on the project that they provide or have to say that the project that on the education but focusing on the girl could give uh put the give the opportunity the girl go to the school and then this kind of the project I think we really need for the remote area and and really for me it I found out that it was so uh it was so important for the Cambodia that right now we have start for the girl but anyway I really like to have uh some more girl on the school with the with the high degree so like my example during my my training I am the only girl in the in I am the one I am the only girl among five five men in in Cambodia that could join the training so the gender inequity is really a big issue in in for us right now so I would like to see more support on the education and focusing on the girl that one it my my personal thinking and just my personal thinking and I think it was so important right now fantastic thank you for that we we certainly also are focused on on on exactly that sort of uh very necessary training and development uh for women's schooling women in STEM um women's entrepreneurship programs and and as as you say uh well really as you represent uh you know you and also Dr. Big Chen you know exemplify that and and uh and certainly illustrate um well both the the opportunity and the need um I'm seeing here a question also for the group that we've gotten uh from a viewer in Thailand and the question is how will Mekong development help improve the welfare of the people in the region and and certainly this is resonant you know we we speak a lot about the billion futures uh when we combine the populations of the United States with the populations of Southeast Asia it's 350 million plus 650 million for a billion futures and and we often find of course sometimes uh I think diplomats and and government folks perhaps uh don't do this uh so naturally or so uh or so often but we have to think of course of all these efforts in their very appropriate human terms you know these are matters of the the livelihoods of course of of tens and tens and scores of millions of people across the Mekong River basin for example uh you know when we work on matters of um marine environment or fisheries this is the the livelihood and the the the patrimony of coastal communities all over in this case the the region in Southeast Asia and all over the world that have uh everything staked on these matters of uh of environmental protection matters of uh of sovereignty matters of economic development and so we certainly think very often in in terms very specifically of how these efforts can help uh communities and and and and the the people of course in in uh in all of the countries where we are engaged in where where we work with governments for sustainable development so this question from Thailand is very resonant uh on how the development issues that we're discussing will improve the welfare of the people in the Mekong countries why don't we start uh again with uh with Dr. Bik Chen uh sorry could could you repeat the big question again sure so one of our viewers from Thailand has asked how will Mekong development help improve the welfare of the people in the region um well these are very challenge questions for yeah but i will try my best to to answer yeah for for me because like uh right now like in the the Mekong region is a very difference and uh if we want to get the welfare for all the people in the region it will take a lot of time but for me uh um the very easy step that we need to work with that uh people need to to seek together to looking for the the the very command objective what is uh the desire of the whole division want to to achieve so from this first step so we get where we had some idea and then like like for us like we are also the lady but we also had a chance to to decode to to need uh to give the idea how to make the our Mekong better so for me it takes a long time but we need to work by step by step and i need uh is it a good thing like the MI program like uh heard the program for the young scientists from the lower Mekong region we we need to think about the what we face right now and what challenge we need to improve in the future together yeah did my idea thank you for that uh mr palakon the the same question for you yeah this is very um challenge question and also this is the issue of what we are doing right now what MRC is doing right now how to uh balance the will and how to um try to make the Mekong river basin developed uh with the less impact because like i said when we develop the um the basin is always come with two sides the positive side and negative side so um of course um it can the Mekong the Mekong river development can improve the welfare of the people in this region for example through the hydro power projects but uh again when we develop hydro power project is always come with the negative impact so what MRC try to do is about how to find the balance and how to guide the member country in order to make sure that these developments um come with the less negative impact as much as possible by uh work with member country to work on the um say he guideline and to you know to promote on the uh Mekong basin development and the program that we are working with the US right now is uh in under the next bill is called the television planning and this one we try to aim to have to see the balance on the trade off among the developments in Idaho so the support from us on this program will help us a lot in order to see uh on the the consensus will or to see on the balance bill among the Mekong country for the basin development in the future so these two will be useful to in the future in order to make sure that we are in the right path of the basin development with thank you for that and and mrs sokhni the same question for you about how these development efforts improve the the welfare of the people in the region i'm not sure that we're hearing you okay so well i work for the health so this kind of the development i might not i might not the right person to answer but my concern that i can say is the health of the people when you try to be looked like uh mr pile of corn already said about uh the dump when you you create a dump then you you need to see about the negative point of the vegetable or the water that let's say the the breeding cycle for the for the mosquito then give the vegetable so this one is that one my concern that you have to think about that you it's not only if you give the people the benefit of the of the money of the land of whatever you you can have it's got to get there but you you think also to her about the health of the people that when you move them from from their heart to somewhere else you need to think about the vertebrate the hygiene and the some of the other disease that maybe have the problem when they move to on their place to another place so it's not really the i i know that some people that mostly that they they discuss they discuss on the benefit and then they change but they don't think about when they move and immediately temporary when they settle in in the in the next set all then they don't think about the about the vertebrate that they can could be have like the dengue or uh sister of malaria or diarrhea or something like that with that dealing with the water and the mosquito that one is my concern so for me for me i need i can say if you want to develop to have a welfare for the uh Mekong country you for the development for the development of the of the Mekong of the alumni country you need to think about that one one you need to think about the health of the local people also when you want to try to to develop something in their area so this one is my concern for that thank you thank you for that mrs. Soakney certainly the the health issues as you say connect very very directly and and very powerfully to to all the the people and the citizens of our of our countries we've been very glad this year to launch the u.s. ASEAN health futures initiative this is something that our secretary of state launched in a video conference with the foreign ministers from southeast asia about five months ago to focus on on expanding exactly some of this work in the medical and public health fields to make sure that the alumni network of of medical and public health professionals who have engaged with different u.s programs are connected among themselves in the region for for sharing knowledge and best practices the sort of of health concerns that you noted you know we have been working in the u.s. government on the president's malaria initiative for about 15 years enormous work and i know a lot of pride frankly in the program also focused on AIDS PEPFAR what began i think about 17 years ago as the president's emergency program for AIDS relief does an enormous amount of work in africa also in southeast asia i know that in vietnam for example there had been at the beginning of the program very significant u.s programs and investments i believe now the government of vietnam has taken over uh almost all of those programs for itself uh managed out of the government of vietnam with funding as well and and a major demonstration of the sort of cooperation and and uh capacity building work and and development work really broadly that we uh that we pursue all over and and we are very proud of course to be continuing and and expanding i think the number of of AIDS deaths that that that PEPFAR has um has prevented runs uh to something like 17 million uh just enormous numbers and something that we're of course very keen to continue working on with uh with public health professionals uh like you and and with many other partners i know that we're getting uh toward the end of our time uh perhaps i would ask a final question that we have here um for mr palakon could you tell us a bit how could the people of the micang coordinate among themselves on the shared challenges in the micang river basin uh how does your work at the mrc uh help the micang communities develop and and implement a shared vision of development yeah for my organization we we're working as the river basin organization so we try to provide a platform for the macong country especially for the lower macong country for country with dialogue with min ma and china in order to make sure that um we have the the the right decision in order to make sure on the medicine development in the future and we have the macong agreement 95 we have the first year and also we have guideline to in order to make sure that um uh stakeholder in in in these basins can work uh together in the systematic way for example for the guideline we have the guideline for uh first year for the water sharing information water sharing and we also have the first year for the well-known procedure for prior consultation process for example when some country want to develop the hydropower project let's say in on the mainstream river um that proposing country need to submit the the document to our organization and then mrc will provide the platform for the relevant uh member country and this cuts with the stakeholder what they're thinking about the proposed infrastructure project on the macong river in order to make the recommendation to the developer and also the proposing slayers on their development so this is how mrc working together with member countries and also in the macong regions in order to make sure on the river development in the assessment of over in charge fantastic well thank you for that and thank you to all of our panelists for for joining thank you to our online audience for asking such wonderful questions uh this really has been uh fantastic and and very educational i'm happy to close really just by reiterating how excited we are about the future of the micong us partnership the partnership will continue building on this long history of success the sorts of programs and people that we've heard about here thank you really very much for spending your evenings with us on this subject for those online who would like to learn more about all of this please visit our website at micong us partnership dot org and we look forward very much to staying in touch and continuing to build these programs together thank you and good night