The 1st Meeting of the GMS Knowledge Network Steering Committee (GMSKN SC) was organized by the GMS Secretariat on October 21 and was attended by representatives from GMS countries, namely Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam, as well as the GMS Secretariat and the Mekong Institute (MI) in its capacity as the regional coordinator.

There were two key discussion items on the agenda. The first topic was the establishment of GMSKN as a regional knowledge center and a think tank to respond to the changing circumstances of the GMS, among them evolving demographics, impact of climate change and global pandemics, and development of high technologies. Also, the GMSKN is aligned with the GMS-2030 Strategic Framework which has “deepening of dialogue on polices and regulations through knowledge-based solutions and capacity building” at its core. Hence, to support GMS countries to adjust to the context and achieve the framework, the concept of the GMSKN was endorsed at the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in March 2022. The meeting acknowledged the scope and the role that the GSMKN can play.  

Another key discussion focused on a stocktaking study to identify the priority themes, sectors, and emerging issues for knowledge generation and dissemination in the GMS. In principle, this study is aimed at defining the thematic/sectoral priorities for the work of GMSKN. The findings will be used in drafting a 2-year work plan for the GMSKN with indicative activities. After a round of feedback sharing, comments were collected for further fine-tuning of the concept. It is expected that the ToR for the study will be endorsed before the end of the year.