On 14 December 2021, H.E. Mr. Han Zhiqiang, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Thailand, and Professor Sirirurg Songsivilai, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of the Kingdom of Thailand, signed in Bangkok a Memorandum of Understanding on the Cooperation on Projects of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund (LMCSF) 2021. China will support Thailand’s universities and scientific institutions in such projects as aquaculture, food security, logistics information, maternity healthcare, agricultural monitoring, etc.
    Since the establishment of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism in 2016, universities and scientific institutions in Thailand have been actively participating in the application and implementation of the LMCSF projects. In 2021 alone, with the support of the LMCSF, Chiang Mai University, Suranaree University of Technology, Far Eastern University, Burapha University and the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, among other universities and scientific institutions, have been conducting pragmatic projects in various fields. These universities and scientific institutions are actively promoting the LMC’s further progress in depth and substance and providing intellectual and organizational support for the sub-region’s sustainable development.
    The LMC is a new model of sub-regional cooperation platform co-launched by China, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in 2016 and has been being jointly built by these six countries. The LMC aims at deepening the good neighborliness, friendship and pragmatic cooperation among these six countries, bolstering the economic and social development of the riparian countries, forging an economic development belt in the Lancang-Mekong basin, building a community with a shared future for the Lancang-Mekong countries, assisting the building of the ASEAN Community and regional integration, and jointly maintaining and promoting the sustained peace, development and prosperity of the region.