The first Friends of the Mekong Policy Dialogue under the new Mekong-U.S. Partnership was convened by the United States of America (USA) and Viet Nam on 12 January 2021. The Dialogue presented recommendations on sustainable infrastructure development and connectivity; human resource development and building the foundations for a Mekong digital economy; sustainable water, natural resource management, and environmental protection; and COVID-19 response and regional collaboration on health security. The Dialogue also emphasized the USA’s commitment to the Mekong region and underscored its importance to ASEAN and to the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. 

The Mekong-U.S. Partnership includes the Governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, the USA, and Viet Nam. Friends of the Mekong includes Australia, the European Union, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank.  

ADB is the secretariat of the GMS Program, which supports implementation of high-priority subregional projects in agriculture, energy, environment, health and human resource development, information and communication technology, tourism, transport, transport and trade facilitation, and urban development.