The Mekong Project

In the history of international river development, the Lower Mekong River development, also known as the Mekong Project, is unique in many aspects. First, unlike most international river developments (the Indus River between India and Pakistan and the Jordan River in the Middle East, for example), the Mekong Project did not stem from the riparian nations’ competing interests and conflicts in its water use. Second, the initiative to develop the Mekong River did not belong to the riparian governments themselves but to the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE). Third, the UN direct involvement in the Mekong Project made it different from all other international river development schemes. It also distinguished the nature of the Mekong cooperation from other Southeast Asian regional organizations that were truly indigenous, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) formed in 1967. Thus, the Mekong Project came into existence fundamentally as a result of the activities of the ECAFE and its Bureau of Flood Control and Water Resources Development. However, this success could not have been achieved without the extreme importance given by the riparian states and people to the Lower Mekong River. This chapter will examine the historical significance of the Mekong River, the genesis of the Mekong Project, and the creation of the Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin, which is the first Mekong international organization to be covered in the next chapter. Last but not least, we will assess the important roles of the international organizations, the United States, and Japan as catalysts of the Mekong regional cooperation for economic development and political stability in the Mekong countries, particularly the Mekong Delta.