On April 4, 2010, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao who was attending the first Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand met with CEO of the Mekong River Commission Jeremy Bird.

Song extended congratulations on the 15th anniversary of the MRC and said that the MRC, as an important international river basin organization in the Mekong Sub-region, has played a key role of coordinating the development, flood control, environmental protection and maritime trade of its members in the Mekong River Basin. China attaches importance to its relations with the MRC. The two sides have held the annual dialogue for 14 years in a row and enjoy ever increasing mutual trust and deepening exchange and cooperation. China is willing to continue to strengthen dialogue, expand cooperation and make joint efforts with the MRC members to promote the sustainable economic and social development of the region following the principle of “equal consultation, closer cooperation, mutual benefit and common development”.

Bird expressed gratitude to China which is the MRC’s dialogue partner for sending the senior delegation to the summit. He noted that China has extended great support for the MRC in terms of Lancangjiang River flood forecast and technological exchange. In particular, the emergency hydrologic data of Lancangjiang River in especially dry season provided by China for the MRC recently is crucial to the drought relief efforts of downstream countries and highly appreciated by all parties concerned. He expects to see greater achievements of cooperation between the MRC and China.