From March 21 to 27,2022, it is the fifth Lancang-Mekong Week and the sixth anniversary of the launch of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation.

As a new sub-regional cooperation mechanism established under the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits between China and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has developed rapidly since its launch in March 2016, with in-depth cooperation and fruitful results. The trade scale between China and the five Mekong countries has continued to expand and achieved growth against the trend despite the COVID-19. In 2021, the trade volume between China and the five Mekong countries reached 398 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 23.3%.

Agriculture is one of the five priority areas of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation. In 2021, the trade volume of agricultural products between China and the five Mekong countries reached 28.1 billion US dollars, an increase of 18.6% year-on-year. More agricultural products have entered each other's market, and the agricultural cooperation potential and space of Lancang-Mekong countries have been continuously expanded. 

China-ASEAN Chamber of Agricultural Commerce (abbreviated as CACAC,) is an international organization established with the permission of the State Council of China, the approval of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, and headed by All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC). It is also a practitioner of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Fund Project. During the Lancang-Mekong Week 2022, CACAC specially launched a series of activities named Lancang-Mekong Friendship towards Agriculture for celebration, publicizing and showing the positive influence, good effect and huge potential of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation in the field of agriculture and agricultural materials, enhancing the awareness of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the enthusiasm of all parties to participate in it, and promoting the in-depth development of cooperation and exchanges in agriculture, economy and trade in the Lancang-Mekong region.

The serial activities of Lancang-Mekong Friendship towards Agriculture lasted for 7 consecutive days and each day a feature article or video was put in the Column of Lancang-Mekong Week 2022 set on the website of CACAC to expand the influence of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation. Two installments of the series are presented in the form of "Video + Copywriting" with the theme of "To Deepen Cooperation and Share Opportunities of RCEP" and “To Enhance Information Exchange and Facilitate Resource Sharing”, which shows that under the support of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Fund，CACAC led by ACFSMC has made huge progress in carrying out the Lancang-Mekong Project, holding the 2021 Lancang-Mekong Matchmaking Meeting for Agriculture, Capacity, Economy & Trade, and Technology and building the Lancang-Mekong Comprehensive Information Platform for Agriculture, Economy and Trade, Technology (hereinafter referred to as the Lancang-Mekong Platform), expresses the enthusiasm of ACFSMC and CACAC in participating in the construction of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and promoting regional development and exchanges in agriculture, agricultural materials, economy and trade, and invites the public to pay attention to, support and participate in the key activities of the Lancang-Mekong project in 2022.

The other five installments are presented in the form of feature articles which respectively sorted out the agricultural and agricultural materials development in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, the progress of cooperation with China and achievements thereof as well as prospects for future cooperation. The 5 feature articles of the Lancang-Mekong Friendship towards Agriculture respectively are Agriculture Sector Cambodia Brief, Agriculture Sector Laos Brief, Agriculture Sector Myanmar Brief, Agriculture Sector Thailand Brief and Agriculture Sector Vietnam Brief, demonstrating the cooperation potential and achievements between the five Mekong countries and China in agriculture and agricultural materials, and promoting the deepening of agricultural, economic and trade cooperation and exchanges in the Lancang-Mekong region.

Mainstream official state media including Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, Economic Daily, and Farmers' Daily as well as multiple industry media have given active reports on this serial activities celebrating the Lancang- Mekong Week 2022.

In recent years, CACAC has actively undertaken and implemented Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Project, and successively organized a number of activities such as training, matchmaking, and economic and trade promotion. Also it actively responded to the need for changes in communication methods and information exchange under the COVID-19 and built the Lancang-Mekong Platform, striving to expand communication and trade and investment cooperation opportunities among Lancang-Mekong countries, organizations and enterprises.

In 2022, CACAC will continue to earnestly implement the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Project, and actively organize relevant government departments, cooperatives, associations and chambers of commerce, and enterprises in China, ASEAN and other countries to strengthen online and offline communication.

The first is to hold the 2022 Lancang-Mekong Agricultural, Economic and Trade Cooperation Summit. With the theme of "Enhancing Industrial Development Capability and Promoting Win-Win Cooperation of Lancang-Mekong countries", the summit will organize and invite government departments, associations and chambers of commerce, cooperatives, enterprises and experts from China, Mekong countries and other countries to interact with each other and conduct in-depth exchanges on development situation of agriculture, agricultural materials, products, production capacity, economy and trade, technology, projects, investment, and cooperation intention thereof, discuss the opportunities brought by Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and RCEP implementation, demonstrating outstanding enterprises, new products, new technologies and investment cooperation projects to unblock the communication channels, tap cooperation potential, thus promoting the deepening of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and accelerating the development of China-ASEAN agricultural, economic and trade integration.

The second is to further build and enrich the Lancang-Mekong Comprehensive Information Platform for Agriculture, Economy and Trade, Technology. In accordance with the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Project plan, CACAC will accelerate the development of platform functions, strengthen cooperation with relevant institutions and enterprises of Mekong countries to expand information channels, enrich platform content, build and improve databases, and demonstrate the information on products, supply and demand, technical requirements, economic and trade needs, credit of companies, etc. of Lancang-Mekong and ASEAN countries from multiple aspects. Also a video dissemination function will be added to the platform. CACAC will invite experts and entrepreneurs of Lancang-Mekong and ASEAN countries to explain policies and regulations, investment environment, practical technology, and share the agriculture sector, market situation, supply and demand information of enterprises to enhance the convenient exchange, sharing of agricultural, economic and trade information and promote the in-depth cooperation among Lancang-Mekong countries.

We sincerely invite all parties to cooperate with and join us to exchange information resources, share development achievements, and jointly promote the cooperation, development and exchanges among Lancang-Mekong countries, and countries along the Belt and Road.

It is believed that with our joint efforts, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation opportunities in agriculture, agricultural materials, economy and trade will be further explored, the cooperation process will be further accelerated, and the Lancang-Mekong dream of strong agriculture, rich farmers and beautiful rural areas will soon become a reality.