On April 24th, Minister of Water Resources E Jingping met with Mr. Sommad Pholsena, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Laos and exchanged views on further deepening bilateral water cooperation and Lancang-Mekong water resources cooperation.

　　Minister E Jingping welcomed the visit of Minister Sommad to the Ministry of Water Resources, and said that China and Laos are friendly neighbors with shared belief, same social systems and similar paths of development. China-Laos relationship sets an example of good neighborliness and all-round cooperation between China and its neighbors. Over the past years, China and Laos have worked expeditiously to align a series of fruitful exchanges and cooperation on construction and planning for water hydropower project construction and capacity building, which contributed greatly to boost the continuous development of China and Laos relations.

　　Minister E Jingping introduced that China is a country with extremely heavy tasks in water governance and management. The Chinese government has always attached great importance to water governance and placed it a top government agenda. In the process of fighting against floods and droughts, China has accumulated rich theoretical and practical experiences and formed a comprehensive system of water laws and regulations, drew up a series of regulations and standards as well as river basin master plans. Remarkable progress has been achieved in regulation of large rivers and lakes. The Ministry of Water Resources is willing to share experiences with Laos and further foster practical cooperation under the China-Laos bilateral water resources cooperation framework and the Lancang-Mekong River water resources cooperation mechanism.

　　Minister Sommad expressed appreciation towards China’s long-term support to the water undertaking in Laos, and spoken highly the achievements made by China in integrated water resources management, flood control and disaster reduction. It is believed that water sector is one of most significant areas for bilateral cooperation between China and Laos. Since water development is still at its early stage, Mr. Sommad hope to learn the experiences and import advanced technologies from China, in the respects of integrated river basin planning, flood warning and forecasting, dispatching and regulation of hydropower stations, construction of hydrological station network and personnel training.

　　In-depth exchanges were conducted by the two sides regarding integrated river basin management, initiation of River Chief System, small hydro-power development, and other areas for further cooperation.

　　Officials from relevant departments of Ministry of Water Resources also attended the meeting.