China and Myanmar took another step towards a new decade of deepening Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), with the signing of the 2025 LMC Special Fund project cooperation agreement on August 5.

The 14 projects in the agreement, signed in the Myanmar capital of Nay Pyi Taw, will continue to support Myanmar's development in agriculture, environmental protection, science and technology, culture, education and disaster prevention.

China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Myanmar, make good use of the funds, and promote the building of a China-Myanmar community with a shared future to bring more benefits to the two peoples, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Ma Jia said.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the LMC mechanism, and the LMC Special Fund project cooperation is only part of the extensive exchange and cooperation among Lancang-Mekong countries (China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam).

The six countries have established a high-level dialogue mechanism by holding regular leaders' meetings and foreign ministers' meetings. The Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt was proposed to promote the deep integration of regional industrial chains.

In 2024, the trade volume between China and Mekong countries exceeded 450 billion USD, twice the value of ten years ago. Goods transported via the China-Laos Railway have traveled through 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, and 19 countries and regions including Thailand and Vietnam.

In the first seven months of 2025, imports and exports transported by the China-Laos Railway surpassed 3.43 million tonnes with a value of 15.4 billion RMB, increasing by six and 41 percent year on year respectively.

Part of the railway's prosperity can be attributed to the vocational education cooperation between China and Mekong countries. In 2019, Guiyang Vocational and Technical College and Kunming Bureau of China Railway signed an agreement to jointly establish a course that cultivated highly skilled professionals for the opening and operation of the China-Laos Railway. A batch of Chinese and Lao graduates from this course have already worked along the railway.

Through the Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Center, the six countries also joined hands to combat cross-border criminal activities like telecommunication fraud.

At the 12th LMC Senior Officials' Meeting via video link on July 31, Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong noted that China will continue to act on the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in its neighborhood diplomacy, enhance strategic communication, deepen solidarity and cooperation, strengthen security shield, and foster closer people-to-people ties with Mekong countries, so as to inject strong impetus into building a Lancang-Mekong community with a shared future and jointly usher in a new golden decade of the LMC.