IVLP Program

From June 13 to July 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of State sponsored an International Visitor Leadership Program for participants from the four Lower Mekong Initiative countries (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam).  The focus of the program was on environmental monitoring and emergency preparedness with visits to Washington DC, Tallahassee FL, Saint Louis MO, and Vicksburg MS.  

This project will provide an overview of monitoring tools and plans to evaluate environmental conditions and policies that help to mitigate environmental degradation.  The project will also cover communication systems to warn of emergencies and plans for population evacuation.  The project will focus on everyday emergency issues and situations such as weather and pollution (air and water) modeling, storm and emergency warnings, river management, communication infrastructure for emergency alerts, evacuation and mitigation planning.

Vientiane, Lao PDR July 30, 2009 

On July 22, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Foreign Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam met in Hanoi, Vietnam within the framework of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), to highlight the growing cooperation between the United States and the Lower Mekong countries in key areas of common concern.

The IVLP program in 2010 included foci across a number of the pillars in the LMI.