Mekong to dominate side events at ASEAN meetings next week

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) - Japan, South Korea and the United States are scheduled to hold separate talks with foreign ministers from Mekong countries on the sidelines of next week's annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, a source said Friday.

The source said senior Japanese and South Korean officials would meet with their Mekong counterparts on Monday ahead of the fifth Mekong-Japan and first Mekong-Korea meetings of foreign ministers on Tuesday.

Senior officials from the United States and "Friends of the Lower Mekong" are scheduled to meet with their counterparts from the Mekong nations on Wednesday.

The fifth meeting of ministers of the Lower Mekong Initiative, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will be held Friday ahead of a ministerial meeting of the Friends of the Lower Mekong group the same day, the source said.

Japan's engagement with Mekong countries has involved Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam while America's Lower Mekong Initiative has involved the first four but not Myanmar. It was not clear which Mekong countries would be taking part in the meetings with South Korea.