Adoption of “Mekong-Japan Cooperation Strategy 2024”
On 26 July 2024, the 15th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and the “Mekong-Japan Cooperation Strategy 2024” was adopted to succeed the “Tokyo Strategy 2018 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation”.
The document covers several points of the strategy, including: 1) Achievements and Future Directions of the Mekong-Japan Cooperation, 2) Three New Pillars of Mekong-Japan Cooperation. The document also underlines the projects related to enhancement connectivity in ASEAN through the use of the Japan-ASEAN Integration (JAIF) in various areas such as smart cities, customs, cyber security, broadcasting, digitalisation and e-commerce.
The Mekong countries appreciate, among other things, the newly established “JAIF 3.0” and the US$100 million contribution to the fund on the occasion of the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation in 2023.
