Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 9, 2014
On August 9, 2014, Secretary John Kerry and the Foreign
Ministers of the Lower Mekong partner countries launched the LMI Eminent and
Expert Persons Group at the LMI Ministerial Meeting. As a first priority, the
Ministers tasked the group with finding concrete ways to promote a sustainable
future for the Mekong River Basin in the context of environmental
sustainability and water, energy, and food security.
The inaugural meeting of the EEPG will be held on the
sidelines of the LMI Regional Working Group meeting in December 2014 in
Myanmar. The EEPG will provide their recommendations to the LMI Senior
Officials Meeting in 2015.
The LMI Eminent and Expert Persons are Dr. Sok Siphana,
Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia; Mr. Phetsamone Viraphanh, Deputy
Director General of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and Dr.
Siviengphet Phetvorasack, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs from Lao PDR; U Than Aye, Vice President of the Academy of Agriculture,
Forestry, Livestock and Fishery and Dr. Saw Plei Saw, Pro-Rector of the
University of Veterinary Science from Myanmar; Dr. Suthad Setboonsarng, Former
Deputy Secretary at the ASEAN Secretariat and Dr. Ruth Banomyong, Assocciate
Professor at Thammasat University from Thailand; Dr. Karl Jackson, Director of
Southeast Asia Studies at the Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Richard Cronin,
Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center will represent the
United States; and Mr. Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Planning
and Investment will represent Vietnam.
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