As part of its Open House event (6 December), Mekong Institute (MI) held its second round of Governing Board Meetings for 2012. The MI Governing Board Meeting includes both the Steering Committee and Council Meetings; both of which were held on the morning and afternoon respectively of December 7, 2012 at the MI Residential Training Facility in Khon Kaen, Thailand.
During the meetings, Dr. Suchat Katima, MI Director, informed the Governing Board members the upcoming 2013 Mekong Forum. The 2013 Mekong Forum will capitalize on the highly successful 2011 Mekong Forum, providing a forum which pulls together various development stakeholders and experts to discuss matters of regional importance. The event is earmarked as a highlight for 2013. Details will be posted and disseminated early next year.
The Governing Board Members reviewed the MI operations and performance over the past year, endorsing the MI Business Plan 2013-2015, the MI Operational Plan 2013, and the MI Budget 2013.
According to Dr. Narongchai Akrasanee, MI Steering Committee Chairman, MI moved forward in the last year, developing and establishing collaborative relationships with several major development partners. These partnerships, he stated, have resulted in a number of challenging up-coming projects which will intensify in the upcoming year.
MI has committed to a number of multi-year development project activities in the short-medium term future but will maintain its core center-based learning programs and services. MI has delivered quality learning programs in accordance with its goals, but could be improved further by upgrading on developing results-based monitoring and evaluation systems.
The MI Council and Steering Committee members lauded MI’s achievements and affirmed the GMS governments ongoing support for the institute. H.E. Ngo Hongly, MI Council Chairman, expressed his view that MIs success stems from the hard work of the Secretariat and the steadfast support and cooperation from all six GMS countries.
The Governing Board Committee agreed to hold the next Governing Board Meetings in July 2013, back-to-back with the 2013 Mekong Forum in Khon Kaen, Thailand.
