‘The International Conference on Cooperation of Mekong Medicinal Plant Development’ was held in Chiang Rai Rajabhat University for Nov. 27 to Dec. 2. More than 60 ethno-medicine experts, scholars from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Yunnan of China, Myanmar, Laos met at Chiang Rai to discuss the relevant topic. Besides a great opportunity for meeting, the purpose of this conference are the exchange of experiences on Tai ethnic medicine and medicinal plants development in the cultivation-propagation and the usage of medicinal plants on ailment curing by Buddhist based Tai medicine among the Mekong regional countries including China, Myanmar, Thai, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Objectives of the conference are: 1) To share the potential of medicinal plants from each participants. 2) To find the mechanism for medicinal plant development including plantation, cultivation, certification, logistics and commerce. 3) To conduct the mechanism for herbal central online market.

There were 6 national network reports and 4 topic reports were reported in the conference. After the conference, foreign participants were also arranged to have study tour on plantation and industrial processing of medicinal plants.

Invited by the conference organizer, Mr. YANG Zhiwei, from Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at Kunming, Chinese Academy of Sciences participated in the conference to give a lecture on ‘Herbal Central Market E-Commerce’, on which he introduced ‘The Project on Medicinal Plants Conservation and Community Development in Northwest Yunnan’ and how the e-commerce is developed in the project to benefit the farmers, which make great interest to all participants at the conference in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

Mr. YANG Zhiwei at the conference to give a lecture

A corner of the conference