On December 7, 2023, when chairing the eighth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Beijing, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, since the seventh Foreign Ministers' Meeting, upholding the Lancang-Mekong spirit of "development first, equal consultation, practicality and high efficiency, and openness and inclusiveness", all parties have taken steady steps to advance cooperation in various areas, achieved a series of new outcomes and created multiple new highlights.

First, cooperation has been upgraded under high-level guidance. President Xi Jinping has maintained close interactions with leaders of Mekong countries, to chart the course for friendship and cooperation among the six countries. Many leaders of Mekong countries paid frequent visits to China and attended the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and other events, reaching a new climax of high-level exchanges between China and Mekong countries. Thanks to the care and promotion of leaders, joint working groups in six priority areas, namely connectivity, production capacity cooperation, cross-border economy, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction, are progressing in an orderly manner, and mechanisms such as cooperation centers on water resources, agriculture, environmental protection, youth exchanges and the Global Center for Mekong River Studies are operating with high efficiency, providing strong support for deepening cooperation in various fields.

Second, economic and trade exchanges have been fully accelerated. Railways, roads, airports, ports, pipelines and power grids have been continuously improved, becoming the backbone of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Economic Development Belt; hydropower plants, wind power stations, and solar power stations resonate with each other, becoming the lifeblood of the development belt. Important progress in connectivity has boosted sub-regional economic and trade exchanges. China's trade with Mekong countries reached 416.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, doubling compared with seven years ago. Cross-border investment by companies from various countries has become more active, injecting impetus into and adding vitality to local economic development.

Third, people's wellbeing has continued to improve. LMC is deeply rooted in and beneficial to the people. Cooperation projects that benefit countries and the people, including the LMC Bumper Harvest Projects, the Lancang-Mekong Sweet Spring Action, and the Green Lancang-Mekong Initiative, have brought tangible benefits to the people in the basin and enabled them to truly feel the dividends of LMC.

Fourth, the bond of the people in Lancang-Mekong countries has been closer. All parties have continued to increase input in education, culture, women, poverty reduction, sports and other livelihood areas. Cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation have become more colorful. Close personnel exchanges and diverse cultural exchanges have tightened the emotional bond of mutual understanding among the people of the six countries and forged a strong sense of community with close bond as one family in the Lancang-Mekong countries.

Wang Yi said, as the first new sub-regional cooperation mechanism jointly initiated and launched by the six Lancang-Mekong countries, LMC has achieved fruitful results from scratch, from its budding inception to its flourishing development, and has become a new, important platform for advancing mutually beneficial cooperation in the region. Wang Yi expressed the belief that LMC will achieve steady and sustained progress and become a model for state-to-state relations, an example of sub-regional cooperation and a benchmark for South-South cooperation.