Hanoi, March 21 (IANS) A Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) project was launched with India’s support in Vietnam on Friday, highlighting New Delhi’s efforts to strengthen sub-regional cooperation and Indo-Vietnam friendship further.
“Mekong Ganga Cooperation project for community water supply and distribution system with India’s support in Xin Cai commune, Meo Vac district, Ha Giang province was inaugurated on 21/3/25. Glad that India-Vietnam friendship benefits local people in cooperation with provinces,” the Embassy of India in Hanoi posted on X.
Established in the year 2000, the Mekong Ganga Cooperation, an initiative by six countries – India and five ASEAN countries, namely, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam for cooperation in tourism, culture, education, as well as transport and communications, remains one of the oldest sub-regional cooperation organisation.
With both the Ganga and the Mekong – which flows from its source on the Tibetan Plateau in China through various Southeast Asian countries – being civilisational rivers, the MGC initiative aims to facilitate closer contacts among the people inhabiting these two major river basins. It remains one of the oldest mechanisms of the lower Mekong region and is guided by India’s ‘Act East’ policy.
New Delhi has funded, completed and continues to finance several MGC Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and also implemented several community development projects under the Rakhine State Development Programme (RSDP) and Border Area Development Programme in Myanmar.
India-Vietnam relations were elevated in 2016 to the level of ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Hanoi.
India has long-standing development cooperation with Vietnam that has made positive contributions over several decades towards training, capacity building, socio-economic development, and industrial growth. Many Vietnamese nationals attend sponsored training and educational courses in India annually and institutional cooperation is extended in areas such as information technology, heritage conservation, etc.
Under the MGC mechanism, India has been undertaking QIPs in different provinces of Vietnam to develop community facilities at the grassroots level.
–IANS
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