Siem Reap: The Mekong River Commission ​Secretariat had organized the ​First Day of the 11th Regional Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable Hydropower Practice on Responsible Operation and Management of Cascade Hydropower, presided over by Mr. Vithounlabandid THOUMMABOUT, Deputy Director General of Department of Energy Policy and Planning, Ministry of Energy and Mines from Lao PDR. and also welcomed by Dr. An Pich Hatda, MRCS CEO, and facilitated by Mr. Palakorn Chanbanyong, Sustainable Hydropower Specialist, including the Government Officials from relevant LAs of the MRC MCs, the Management and operation staff of Hydropower Developers and Operators, International and National Professional Hydropower-related Associations, MRC Development Partners and Dialogue Partners, SCOs, INGOs, LNGOs, Academia, Local Communities, MRC Secretariat staff, and invited speakers from MRC region and also other region. The Forum is proceeded via VDO Conferencing with the primary hub, hosted by the MRCS in Vientiane and Co-host hubs in each Member Country. The Co-host hub in Cambodia is located in Siem Reap, in Thailand is located in Bangkok, and in Viet Nam is located in Hanoi.

The Co-host hub in Siem Reap is facilitated by His Excellency Mr. Kol Vathana, Deputy Secretary General of the Cambodia National Mekong Committee (CNMC) with participation by the relevant staff of the CNMC General Secretariat, representatives of the relevant ministries, NGOs, CSOs, Academia, Local Communities, and National Expert.

The main objective of the Day-1 of the Forum is to provide the participants with an opportunity to discuss various aspects related to hydropower management in the Mekong River Basin and focusing on the hydropower development, management and cascade operations with the following specific objectives are to:

- discuss relevant processes on information sharing and coordinated operations towards the optimization of dam operations and the sustainability of the projects in the Mekong Basin’s transboundary context;

- discuss the roles of developers, operators, government agencies and regional agencies including CSOs/NGOs in relation to the process of information sharing and coordinated operations of hydropower projects; and

- propose different mechanisms for efficient and responsible hydropower cascade operations and management in the Mekong River Basin.