On 17 November 2020, Mr. Yang Xin, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand, and Mr. Thongplew Kongjun, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Kingdom of Thailand, signed in Bangkok the Memorandum of Understanding on the Cooperation on Projects of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund 2020 on agricultural projects. In accordance with the agreement, China will support Thailand’s efforts in the four projects of food safety, pest control and prevention, soil management, and the promotion of the integrated and sustainable agricultural system.
The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) is a new type of sub-regional cooperation platform jointly initiated and forged by China, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam in 2016. Agriculture is one of the priority areas of LMC. In 2017, China established the LMC Special Fund to support small and medium-sized cooperation projects proposed by the six member countries. The past two years has witnessed the Fund’s financial support in 9 agricultural cooperation projects led by Thailand, with a total funding of nearly US$2.2 million (about 68 million baht). These projects mainly benefit the community-level farmers in Thailand and help Thailand impart advanced agricultural production experience to neighboring countries. The implementation of the project will complement the shortcomings in the agricultural development of Lancang-Mekong countries, including Thailand, improve community-level people’s ability to cope with climate change, and enhance the global competitiveness of agricultural production in the Lancang-Mekong sub-region.