It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Mekong River to Southeast Asia. Originating in the Tibetan Plateau, it traverses six countries — China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — before it empties, over 4,300 km away, in the Pacific Ocean. It drains an area of 795,000 square km and discharges 475 cubic km of water each year. Its waters have for centuries irrigated some of the world's most productive rice crops, and continue to do so, as well as provide energy and drinking water today. Hundreds of millions of lives depend on it, and it is with good reason that it is known as the "mother of water."

Cognizant of the growing importance of the Mekong and the countries that it waters, the Japanese government in 2009 launched the Mekong-Japan summit to build better relations between Tokyo and the five Southeast Asian riparian states. At the 10th meeting, held earlier this week, they agreed on a new three-year plan, the Tokyo Strategy 2018 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation. It includes at least 150 projects that will focus on three areas: building effective connectivity through traditional infrastructure projects, building people-centered societies (or using technology to improve social outcomes as well as other forms of human resource development) and environment and disaster management.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe noted at the summit that Japanese firms have invested more than ¥2 trillion in the Mekong region in the past three years. "Japan will use public funds, such as overseas development assistance, as well as overseas investments and loans" to "realize even more private investment than before," he promised.