The 5th Joint Working Group Meeting of the on Poverty Reduction for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) and Forums on Pandemic Response Experience Sharing and Regional Rural Development were held on November 10, 2021. The events were hosted by Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development of Myanmar. Over 30 representatives of the working group members from the poverty alleviation departments of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the representatives of the China Secretariat and Myanmar Secretariat of the Lancang Mekong cooperation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the implementation units of the East Asia Poverty Reduction Pilot Project attended the meeting via video link.

Mr. XU Jianmin, Director General of the General Department of National Rural Revitalization Administration of China attended the meeting and delivered an opening remarks. He introduce China's fight against poverty, COVID-19 control and rural revitalization and made proposals on strengthening Lancang-Mekong poverty reduction cooperation in the time of pandemic.

H. E. Hap Omaly, State Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development of Cambodia, H.E. Khant Zaw, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development of Myanmar, and Mr. Win Zeyar Tun, Vice Chair/Deputy Director General of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation National Coordination Unit Myanmar addressed at the opening ceremony.

Dr. TAN Weiping, Deputy Director General of the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) shared China’s experience in the fight against the pandemic and poverty as well as in rural development. He pointed out that China is willing to further strengthen regional exchanges in poverty reduction and rural development under the Lancang-Mekong cooperation framework to make due contributions to the construction of a Community of Shared Future among Lancang-Mekong countries.