A decision on a controversial plan to build a hydro-power dam on the Mekong River has been postponed pending further environmental studies.
The project at Xayaburi in Laos would be the first to be built on the mainstream of the lower Mekong.
Laos wants to sell most of the electricity to neighbouring Thailand.
But Cambodia and Vietnam say the dam will hit fish stocks and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people downstream who depend on the river.
The move came as representatives of all four countries met in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap.
The group, which collectively makes up the Mekong River Commission, last met in April but failed to agree on the project then.
Opponents fear the proposed $3.5bn (£2.15bn) Xayaburi dam and power station project would open the door to a building spree, degrading the Mekong's fragile ecology and associated fishing industries.
One might think that governments would have learned by now that destroying estuaries , wetlands and habitat doesn't serve the best interests of the nation or its people but you would be wrong.
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