Trade and Investment Facilitation

Countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion are working to make the movement of goods and services across borders faster, easier, cheaper, more compliant, and more inclusive.

Over the past decade, the Greater Mekong Subregion’s (GMS) road network has expanded by almost 200,000 kilometers, and overland road freight has almost doubled. Yet despite these advances, remaining barriers to trade and transport continue to inhibit the subregion’s full economic potential and the cost of cross-border land transport remains high.

With much of the hard infrastructure in place, there has been a greater focus in recent years on the rules, regulations, agreements, and other “software” to make the movement of goods and services across borders in the GMS faster, easier, cheaper, more compliant, and more inclusive.

The GMS Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030) focus on trade facilitation will modernize customs and establish sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. It will also strengthen links to the private sector. GMS-2030 will support the development of e-commerce platforms in the subregion. By facilitating investment, the strategy will ease or eliminate investment flow constraints and create an integrated investment market. GMS-2030 was endorsed and adopted at the 7th GMS Summit of Leaders in September 2021. It aims to provide a new setting for the development of this subregion for the next decade.

The GMS Transport and Trade Facilitation Action Program is working to overcome existing barriers in order to link the subregion to the ASEAN Economic Community’s single market and production base, as well as other regional cooperation initiatives.

The program is helping to expand transport and traffic rights along the GMS Cross Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA). route network; simplify and modernize customs procedures and border management; and strengthen the capacity of sanitary and phytosanitary agencies in the subregion.

To facilitate progressive implementation of the CBTA, the GMS Transport Ministers as members of the CBTA Joint Committee agreed to an “Early Harvest” memorandum of understanding to allow the issuance and mutual recognition of GMS Road Transport Permits along the CBTA Protocol 1 route network and the border crossing points along these routes starting August 2018. This initiative was suspended with the closure of international borders during the Covid-19 health pandemic, but reinstated by the Ministers for a further three-year period at the Eighth CBTA Joint Committee meeting in December 2023.

Related

Working Group on Trade and Investment

‘Early Harvest’ Implementation of the Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement

Joint Committee for the CBTA

Statement of the Seventh Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA (13 March 2019)


Focal Persons at the Asian Development Bank

    Cross-border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA);

    • Mohammad Nazrul Islam  
      Transport Sector Office
      Sectors Group

    Other Concerned Staff & Consultants

    • Antonio Ressano 
      Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
      Southeast Asia Department

    • Lucia Martin Casanueva
      Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
      Southeast Asia Department/GMS Secretariat 

    Investment;

    • Yuya Yamamoto 
      Regional Cooperation and Integration and Trade Divisiont
      Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department

    Other Concerned Staff & Consultants

    • Antonio Ressano 
      Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
      Southeast Asia Department

    • Maria Mendez Martinez
      Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
      Southeast Asia Department/GMS Secretariat 

    Send inquiries to GMS Secretariat

ADB Supports Construction of Sustainable Transport Links to U-Tapao Airport in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Thailand signed the Climate-Resilient Connectivity for the Eastern Economic Corridor Project: The Intercity Motorway No. 7 on 6 June 2025. The $68.74 million loan agreement will provide a sustainable land transport network to the U-Tapao Airport in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). The EEC is a manufacturing and innovation hub in eastern Thailand supported by multimodal transport links, including rail, road, and air transport.  


Single Container, Single Vehicle Entry from PRC to Viet Nam under the GMS CBTA

Trucks from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) traveled directly to Ha Noi, Viet Nam, under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA). The trucks departed simultaneously from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) and Yunnan on 14 May 2025. A ceremony at the Long Bien Inland Container Depot Logistics Center in Ha Noi was held on 15 May 2025 to officially inaugurate two key transport routes from PRC to Viet Nam.


Longbang Border Crossing becomes Gateway for Thai Fruit Exports to PRC

The Longbang border crossing in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), connected to the Tra Linh border gate in Cao Bang, Viet Nam, has become the sixth land port in GZAR for transshipment of Thai fruits. This milestone was solidified in May 2025 with the export of six containers of durian from Thailand totaling 96 metric tons.


Kampot International Tourism Port Boosts Tourism 

Cambodia’s Kampot International Tourism Port, inaugurated on 21 April 2025, positions Kampot as a competitive tourism hub, providing Southern Cambodia with links to Thailand, Viet Nam, and the country's own island destinations. Spanning four hectares in Tuek Chou district, the port was financed by a $10 million loan provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth, with additional funding by the Government of Cambodia.


Photo shows the participants of this year's regional training program together with the training team. Photo credit: ADB.

Honing Project Management Skills to Achieve Development Goals

Thirty-nine government officials and specialists joined this year’s Regional Training in Project Management organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Bangkok from 5 to 9 May. The training program is designed to support the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in project planning and implementation. It fosters a results-based project management approach that aligns projects to sector strategies.


Construction of High Speed Kunming-Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong Railway to Begin

Viet Nam is set to begin construction of a new 417-kilometer railway line connecting the northern port city of Haiphong to Kunming, People’s Republic of China (PRC), via Hanoi and Lao Cai Province. The initiative, with an estimated investment of about US$11 billion, aims to bolster trade and tourism between the two countries by enhancing connectivity and facilitating smoother transportation of goods and people.


Fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge Approaches Full Completion and Opening

The fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge spanning the Mekong River, connecting Borikhamxay province in Lao PDR with Bueng Kan province in Thailand, is now 96% complete. Its official opening is being planned for May 2025, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The new bridge will facilitate easier travel and trade between the two countries, as well as strengthen connections within the Greater Mekong Subregion, particularly benefiting businesses engaged in trade between Thailand and Viet Nam.