International Collaborations on Mekong River

The Mekong River Basin has always been used for fishing, irrigation and navigation by the riparian people. The first structured exploration of the river basin began with a French Mekong expedition at the end of the 19^th century (Wikipedia, 2010). Until the 1950s the Mekong River was described as the "only large river left in the world, besides the Amazon, which remained virtually unexploited."(Nakayama, 2002: pp. 274–275. in Wikipedia, 2010) The decolonization of Indochina by the Geneva Accords in the middle of the 20^th century enabled a common water management of the Mekong River Basin by the four riparian countries Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand. 

The history of International
collaboration on Mekong is very old, and hs seen several ups and downs. The Key turns of this collaboration are as follows

• 1947 United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) started its work to work and boost development activities in Southeast Asia.
• 1952 ECAFE study observed Mekong's huge potential for hydroelectric and irrigation development.
• 1956 US Bureau of Reclamation report on planning and development in the lower basin urges joint management in developing the river and four lower riparian countries i.e. Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam endorsed
• 1957 ECAFE report acquiesces with earlier findings. And the presentation of the report in a meeting geared and developed the interest of  Mekong Lower Basin countries and they themselves call for further study.
• 1957 Riparian negotiate a draft charter for the "Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong." Statute signed on 17 September 1957, bringing Mekong Committee into legal existence (Wolf, 2008).
• Late 1957 Wheeler Mission emphasized the collection and maintenance of hydrological and survey data before going in to any implementation phase. Hence this approach was adopted as  Committee's initial five-year plan.
• 1961 White Mission urges social aspects of development to be investigated commensurate with technical aspects. Many of Mission's recommendations for training programs are adopted (Wolf, 2008).
• 1965 Laos and Thailand sign agreement on power generation project on Nam Ngum River, a Mekong tributary within Laos, by which Thailand agrees to buy surplus power (Wolf, 2008).
•  1970 Indicative Basin Plan describes proposed large-scale development of Mekong basin.
•  1975 Joint Declaration on Principles signed, including the first precise definition of "reasonable and equitable use," as described in Helsinki Rules, ever used in international agreement (Wolf, 2008).
• 1978 Mekong Committee becomes a three-member "Interim Mekong Committee," with the lack of a representative government in Cambodia (Wolf, 2008).
•  1991 Cambodia requested to rejoins as full participant, but Committee remains legally "interim."
• 1991 Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Cooperation Program begins for cooperation in development of the region.
• 1992 Thailand asks UNDP to remove Executive Agent; UNDP complies.
• 1995 Mekong Committee re-ratified as Mekong River Commission. Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin signed by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam for sustainable development, utilization, conservation and management of the Basin while attempting to bring the two upstream countries, Myanmar and China into the cooperation (Wolf, 2008).
• 1996 China and Myanmar joined Mekong River Commission as dialog partner
• On 1 April 2002 The People's Republic of China signed an agreement on the provision of hydrological information on the Lancang/Mekong River (Mekong River Commission, 2009).