VP Harris announces U.S. will give $20 million to fund clean energy projects in Mekong region

US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States has allocated $20 million in new funding for clean energy projects in the Mekong region.

“Bold climate action is not only necessary to protect the people of our planet and our natural resources, but it is also powerful driver of economic growth,” she said on the last day of the APEC summit in Thailand.

In an earlier news release, Harris vowed that the Biden administration would request funding from Congress for the Japan-US-Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP), through which the two countries partner with regional nations to promote clean energy projects including solar power.

“In particular, we know that the climate crisis presents a real threat to the communities who depend on the Mekong River. In Thailand, in Vietnam, Laos,” Harris said.

She was welcomed to Thailand by the Supreme Patriarch who thanked her for attending the summit and also taking time to pay respects at a local temple.

Harris was given a tour around the temple. She also paid respects to the principal Buddha image, Phra Buddha Angkhiros.

“The US vice president’s visit can be seen as fostering US-Thailand relations to ensure they continue from generation to generation,” Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Ariyavongsagatanana IX said.

Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff also met Maha Vajiralongkorn, whose formal title is Rama X (10th King of Thailand.)