Signing of MRCS-AIT Partnership Agreement
A partnership agreement (PA) will be signed between the Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRCS) and AIT on Wednesday, 11 October. The MRCS delegation will be composed of Dr. Joern Kristensen, Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Lars Pedersen, Chief of Public Relations and Coordination Unit.
Background
The demands of the rapidly growing population and the beginning industrial development in the Mekong river basin calls for the sustainable management of its rich natural resources. The Mekong River Commission, a regional intergovernmental organization was established between Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam with the Agreement of April 1995 on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin. This Agreement replaced the Mekong Committee established in 1957 and the Interim Mekong Committee of 1978. It is ideally placed to reconcile these countries' growing demands for their mutual benefit and their people's well-being.
The Asian Institute of Technology, in line with its development objective to meet the continuing need for advanced education in engineering, science and technology in the Asia-Pacific region, will enter into a Partnership Agreement with MRC. The PA will establish the overall framework for strengthening the inter-institutional relationship and cooperation in the areas of water resources modeling, watershed management, environmental management and community-based development through the following activities: capacity building and human resource development, scholarly and information exchanges, research collaboration and consultancy/advisory services.
The signing of the PA will take place at the AIT Boardroom, Administration Building. On this occasion, Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, President and Dr. Joern Kristensen, Chief Executive Officer will be representing AIT and MRC, respectively.