Overview
The 3rd Mekong-Korea International Water Forum (MKWF), organised by the Korea-Mekong Water Center with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of RoK (MoFA), hosted by Ministry of Environment of RoK (MoE), K-water, brought together ministers, high-level officials, experts, and stakeholders from the Mekong countries and development partners. The participants engaged in fruitful discussions and shared their experiences, insights, and best practices to develop water solutions and explore opportunities for projects. It featured a range of sessions, including a high-level dialogue, development partners roundtable, thematic sessions, water project session, Mekong-Korea Cooperation Fund (MKCF) Milestone Event, Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) special session, and a water technology exhibition.
The MKCF Milestone Event focused on strengthening collaboration among stakeholders such as MOFA, Mekong Institute (MI), Korea-Mekong Water Center (KOMEC), and MKCF Projects. The event aimed to enhance the significance, sustainability, and impact of MKCF projects through improved coordination among stakeholders and alignment of Knowledge Hub roles within the MKCF Framework.
Session Highlights
Dr. Kittiphon Boonma, a Research Specialist at GIC, joined the forum, as a delegate from the MKCF team for the session “The 2nd Milestone Event”, a closed-door event organised by KOMEC. He showcased our PlasticFlow Mekong project and its regional implementation, challenges faced, and lessons learned from implementing a regional project, and proposed recommendations for the KOMEC’s “Knowledge Hub: Project Development One-stop Platform”.
The important outcomes of this session were:
- To identify the operational challenges of MKCF projects in ensuring technical quality, regional cooperation, and long-term sustainability of MKCF projects.
- To develop practical solutions on the identified challenges based on the suggestions of key stakeholders on the improvement of project operations.
- To strengthen the partnership among MOFA, MI, and MKCF project implementing agencies (PIAs) to further enhance the quality of MKCF projects.
