Premier Li Keqiang on March 22 welcomed leaders from five countries attending the first Lancang-Mekong Cooperation leaders’ meeting. The Premier took pictures with leaders from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

When delivering a speech at the meeting, Premier Li said that the Lancang-Mekong River Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism is coming into effect about a year after it was first proposed. China will work with leaders from Lancang-Mekong countries to draw a cooperative blueprint and take the first step for cooperation under the theme of “Shared River, Shared Future”.

In November 2014, the Premier proposed building the Lancang-Mekong River Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism under the framework of China-ASEAN (10+1) at the 17th China-ASEAN leaders’ meeting.