Mekong - U.S. Partnership
U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership WiSE/Water Program (2020-2024)
Water Smart Engagements (WiSE) Program pairs U.S. and ASEAN cities, water districts, and utilities for collective capacity building and innovative technology familiarization. Three such cities are from the Mekong region, including Vientiane, Lao PDR which partnered with Hillsboro, Oregon; Phuket, Thailand with Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam with San Francisco, California.…
USAID SERVIR-Southeast Asia (2023-2028)
Under the MUSP umbrella, USAID, in collaboration with NASA, supports climate resilience studies, providing early warning of dramatic changes in regional water and disasters, air quality, food security, weather and climate, and land cover and land use, with a focus on the Mekong sub-region.
USAID Southeast Asia Smart Power Program (2021-2026)
USAID’s Southeast Asia Smart Power Program is designed to support modern, connected, reliable energy system, with a particular focus on Mekong sub-region countries. The program aims to decarbonize and strengthen the region's power systems by increasing regional energy trade, accelerating the deployment of clean energy technologies, and actively engaging private sector leaders. The program operates…
Japan-U.S.-Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP) (2019-Present)
U.S. technical assistance, in coordination with Japan, supports Mekong electricity regulatory and system development by working with national and regional market authorities on reliably integrating renewable energy, enhancing opportunities for regional power trade, and opportunities for private investment.
Keynote Address for the Mekong-U.S. Partnership Track 1.5 Dialogue on Infrastructure and Energy
EAP Assistant Secretary Kritenbrink’s Keynote Address for the Mekong-U.S. Partnership Track 1.5 Dialogue on Infrastructure and Energy Good morning and good evening, everyone. It is an honor to speak to so many distinguished guests, YSEALI participants, innovators, leaders, and policy makers from across the region. It is a region I am passionate about, having recently…
Investigating Sustainable Energy Development Opportunities
Did you know: Thailand used 60 TW of power just to run air conditioning in 2020—but stricter energy efficiency standards could reduce this consumption by 20 to 30 percent? Cambodia's hydropower production was curtailed by the Mekong drought in 2019-2020? Vietnam was a late starter in renewable energy, but feed-in tariffs helped install 9GW of…
Joint Press Statement of the Friends of the Mekong “Recovery and Resilience”
Joint Press Statement of the Friends of the Mekong “Recovery and Resilience” - United States Department of State The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and the Governments and Members of the Friends of the Mekong Group on the occasion of the 2021 Friends of…
United States, South Korea, and Mekong River Commission Partnership Launches
Senior officials from the United States, Republic of Korea, and the Mekong River Commission (MRC) launched cooperation on July 20 on water data utilization and capacity building for the Mekong region. The partnership will see specialists and scientists from Korea Water Resources Corporation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and NASA provide at least six training events to professionals from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam on various decision-support system topics, including modelling, water data utilization and knowledge transfer.
Strengthening Transboundary River Governance Report
The East-West Center, with support from the Mekong-U.S. Partnership, released the report from the Indo-Pacific Conference on Strengthening Governance of Transboundary Rivers on February 25.
Investigating Energy Alternatives to Hydropower
Once viewed as a clean energy source, the impacts of mainstream hydropower dams on the Mekong are now plain to see. They include fisheries decline, biodiversity loss, waterway transport disruptions, and falling household incomes in riverside communities. In 2020, Cambodia called a 10-year moratorium on building any more hydropower dams domestically. But over the border…
United States Hosts Vietnam Webinar Series Towards Modernizing Vietnam’s Power Sector
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Energy Resources’ (ENR) Power Sector Program (PSP), in partnership with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), provided three webinars to the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV). These webinars focused on enhancing ERAV’s regulatory capacity to oversee power market reforms and grid modernization to advance the goals of the Japan-U.S.-Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP), Mekong-U.S. Partnership (MUSP), and the Asia Enhancing Development and Growth through Energy Initiative (Asia EDGE).
“Towards a Resilient and Connected Mekong:” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Atul Keshap’s Remarks at the 2021 Friends of the Mekong Policy Dialogue
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Keshap provided opening remarks at the 2021 Friends of the Mekong Policy Dialogue on January 12, 2021.
