Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has appointed a deputy foreign minister and a deputy minister of natural resources and environment as vice-chairs for the Vietnam Mekong River Committee.

Farmers in the Mekong River Delta are facing the encroachment of salt water.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thai Lai have become the two vice-chairs. The committee’s chair is Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen.

This committee will assist the PM in cooperating with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to develop, use and protect water and other natural resources in the Mekong basin, the Mekong Delta and affected Central Highlands areas.

The PM will travel to Thailand on April 4-5 to attend and speak at the Mekong River Commission conference to raise suggestions on protecting water resources and to confirm Vietnam’s commitment to the cooperation agreement signed in 1995 between Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

PV