Mekong Institute (MI) Executive Director Suriyan Vichitlekarn participated in the Eighth CAREC Think Tank Development Forum on August 27-28, 2024, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Organized by the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Institute (CI), this annual event serves as a flagship knowledge exchange platform under the CAREC Think Tank Network (CTTN).
The forum, themed “The Climate Challenge: Thinking Beyond Borders for Collective Action,” convened diverse stakeholders to discuss regional challenges and provide policy recommendations for addressing climate issues through cross-border collaboration.
In the session on “Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS): Enhancing Synergies and Subregional Cooperation for Climate Resilient and Net Zero Development,” Mr. Vichitlekarn shared MI’s experience in addressing climate change. He highlighted key challenges impeding the GMS’s progress towards climate resilience and net zero development:
- Vulnerability to climate change
- Technological and infrastructure barriers
- Economic disparities
- Insufficient investment
- Policy incoherence
In response to these challenges, Mr. Vichitlekarn presented MI’s approaches to building climate resilience, ensuring the alignment with broader regional cooperation mechanisms and framework:
- Leveraging regional cooperation integration mechanisms
- Promoting best practices and successful models
- Enhancing capacity and confidence in setting and achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
- Connecting and strengthening networks
On the sidelines of the forum, Mr. Suriyan and CI Director Kabir Jurazoda discussed potential collaboration between the two subregions, particularly MI and CI. They explored opportunities for knowledge exchange, staff mobility, joint projects, and institutional capacity building. Both parties expressed interest in formalizing this partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding.
About Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Institute
The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Institute (CI) is an intergovernmental organization owned and jointly operated by eleven member countries of the CAREC Program. The CI provides evidence-based knowledge support for promoting regional cooperation and integration (RCI) through research, capacity building, and knowledge partnerships.
