A regional cooperation project centered on a long riverway passing through several nations, in addition to ensuring agreement between the nations involved, requires cooperation from the international community as a whole. This is because of potential friction that may inevitably arise during the course of such a project; types of friction that the states involved may not be able to resolve on their own. The Mekong’s upper reaches located in China, and five developing nations of Southeast Asia sharing its middle and downstream sections, and this has made mutual agreement quite difficult. But due to the high and vocal demand for development in the region, the actors have continued to make adjust their positions accordingly and cooperate with each other in spite of the difficulties involved in developing the Mekong region.
Support from multilateral development agencies and advanced nations have kept development moving forward up to this point, in terms of hardware infrastructure. Nations in the region have been active participants in the ADB-sponsored GMS program that began in 1992, which resulted in rapid build-up of physical infrastructure in the region. They are also cooperating  through the Mekong River Commission for projects to develop the Mekong’s water resources, and also bolster human capital in the region through the Mekong Institute. Connectivity between different regions around the Mekong have been strengthened recently, to promote the flow of people and materials that would expedite development in the region.
In October of 2011, Korea announced its intentions for earnest participation in the development of the Mekong region through the First Korea-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. During the meeting, Korea pledged active consideration to increased connectivity with ASEAN, sustainable development, and human-oriented development in six major issue areas. Korea also announced it would pursue several pilot projects at the Second Korea-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in July of 2012. At this point, Korea must formulate a basic strategy, direction of cooperation and measures for mid-to-long term cooperation in participating in the regional development.
In this regard, the question of how we should look at Korea’s participation in the development of the Mekong region is an important one. Countries comprising the region including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar are already major cooperative partners receiving significant ODA from Korea. This means that if viewed solely from a bilateral standpoint, Korean involvement in these development efforts would create much overlap with pre-existing ODAs and would be, in essence, simple repetition.
However, the development of the Mekong region is actually a level-up, from bilateral to multilateral cooperation. The claim could be made that it constitutes Korea’s first multilateral development project after Korea became a member of the OECD DAC. It should be noted that the Korean government and the private sector will be involved together in various projects pursued by the Mekong regional bodies, which will serve to enhance Korea’s potential capacity with respect to development.
In order to ensure continued development, private sector participation is indispensable along with cooperation between governments, for which programs that enable public-private partnerships must be created. In the middle to long term, Korea should take a leading role in the Mekong development and come up with a system that would strengthen Korea’s capacity for multilateral development cooperation. Moreover, the strategy for development cooperation in Asia must be established from the larger framework of Korean development cooperation.
This research thus proposes the following measures for cooperation, with respect to creating overall plans for Korea in developing Mekong region.
First, the Korea-Mekong foreign ministers meeting must be elevated to summits, while simultaneously organizing economic ministers’ meetings as an intermediate phase to enhance economic cooperation. Following its foreign ministers’ meetings with the Mekong region countries in 2008, Japan subsequently  elevated it to a meeting of economic ministers and eventually summits, which could serve as a point of reference.
Second, an ODA base for multilateral cooperation must be established. The Mekong Sub-regional Development was made possible by converting previously bilateral cooperative relationships into a multilateral channels for cooperation. A firm foundation in the form of multilateral ODAs is vitally necessary for the continuation of such multilateral cooperation. The government-wide ASEAN Connectivity Task Force that was launched on September 2012 will focus on strengthening the connection between Korea and countries in the Mekong region. The Korean government ODA, set to be doubled by 2015 (relative to 2012), could be put to active use for the endeavor.
Third, all efforts should be expended for keeping the cooperation with donor states and regional cooperative organizations moving. The nature of each organization must be assessed and understood as well as the strategies of major donor states, to ensure amicable cooperation with those organizations/states. Korea should also seek to take leads in certain projects, circumstances permitting, and must not shrink from taking advantage of diverse, pre-existing networks. This would contribute immensely to enhancing Korea’s capacity for development in the long term.
Fourth, formulating an action plan for Korean engagement in development projects in the Mekong region is necessary. These engagements should take place separately in the six major areas of cooperation, instead of in an overarching manner. As these projects move forward, the so-called Korea Special Fund needs to be set up, so that Korea can evaluate, from the earliest stages (feasibility studies), how those funds should be spent. This allows an accumulation of data as well as provide opportunities for Korean corporations. Also, the participation of the private sector should be encouraged by establishing joint public-private programs, which would include public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other diverse formats. To further stimulate exchange in the private sector, the ‘Korea-Mekong Business Forum’ should continue to be organized. Last but not least, a system should be arranged in a manner that would bring in more small and mid-size businesses into the fold.