Files: This handout from Myanmar’s military information team taken and released on July 2, 2022 shows Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi (C) being welcomed at Myanmar’s Nyaung-U Airport to attend a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism. (Photo by Handout / MYANMAR MILITARY INFORMATION TEAM / AFP)
Mizzima
China has signed an agreement to give the Myanmar junta US$ 3.6 million in grants for projects in Myanmar that are part of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Special Fund (2024).
The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Naypyidaw on 14 June that was attended by the Myanmar Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, Than Swe, and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Myanmar, Mr. Chen Hai.
The MLC projects will be implemented by six Myanmar ministries in the fields of agriculture and livestock, forest resources preservation, eco-innovation and green practices of Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), village-level poverty reduction, ICT and innovation and cultural promotion.
At the signing ceremony, the Chinese ambassador said that China was supporting the MLC projects because it will benefit Myanmar people.
The junta Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Than Swe, in his speech at the ceremony, reiterated Myanmar’s commitment to working with China and other countries on the Lancang/Mekong River to promote peace, prosperity and stability in the Lancang/Mekong River.
The Lancang River flows through southwest China into Myanmar, where it becomes known as the Mekong River, before flowing through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) was established in 2016 for cooperation between the riparian states of the Lancang River and the Mekong River.
From 2017 to 2024 Myanmar received US$ 35 million from China to help fund 118 LMC projects in various regions.
Myanmar was supposed to be the co-chair of MLC with China from 2020 to December 2023 but it was suspended from the co-chair position by China after the Myanmar military coup in early 2021.
On 11 June 2024, China donated six patrol vessels to the Myanmar junta under an agreement drawn up with the previous National League for Democracy (NLD) Myanmar Government.
