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.
During the past decade, the GMS road network has expanded by almost 200,000 kilometers, and overland road freight has also almost doubled. Yet despite these advances, remaining barriers to trade and transport continue to inhibit the subregion’s full economic potential.
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 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 GMS corridors, particularly the North-South, East-West and Southern Economic Corridors; simplify and modernize customs procedures and border management; and strengthen the capacity of sanitary and phytosanitary agencies in the subregion.
The GMS Transport and Trade Facilitation Action Program builds on the success of the GMS Cross Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA), which has helped to consolidate non-physical measures needed to streamline the cross-border movement of goods, vehicles and people within the subregion.
Related
• Statement of the Sixth Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA (15 March 2018)
• Statement of the Fifth Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA (16 December 2016)
• Statement of the Fourth Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA and 3-Year Blueprint on Transport and Trade Facilitation, 2013-2016 (22 November 2013)
• Statement of the Third Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA (17 June 2010)
• Statement of the Second Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA (20 March 2007)
• First Meeting of the Joint Committee for the CBTA (30 April 2004)
International Finance Corporation is providing $15 million in long-term financing to the International Bulk Terminal (Thilawa) Company Limited to develop and operate one of the first bulk terminals in Myanmar.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (13 April 2018) — The Asian Development Bank’s Trade Finance Program and Orient Commercial Bank today signed a $10 million loan agreement to further support trade in Viet Nam.
This is the statement issued by the Joint Committee for the Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement during its sixth meeting in Hanoi, Viet Nam on 15 March 2018.
This introduces the green freight approach, which helps improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions of the transport sector.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has made progress in transforming itself from a landlocked to a “land-linked” economy. However, high logistics costs affect its continued growth, particularly its trade competitiveness.
BANGKOK, THAILAND (25 January 2018) — The Asian Development Bank’s Trade Finance Program called for greater financial integration, including the development of trade finance, among Greater Mekong Subregion countries at a recent conference for trade finance professionals, central banks, and government ministries in Bangkok.
Mekong governments need to create an enabling environment for public-private partnerships in infrastructure. Here are 4 ways to get the job done.
VIENTIANE, LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (20 November 2017) —The Asian Development Bank and the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic signed an agreement on 13 November for a $10 million grant as additional financing for a project that will enhance sanitary and phytosanitary capacity and improve food safety as well as plant and animal safety in the country.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is operating its first dry port in Savannakhet province, where it is strategically positioned along the Greater Mekong Subregion East-West Economic Corridor, at the mid-point between the nearest Vietnamese seaport of Danang, and Thai ports in Bangkok and Laem Chabang.
VIENTIANE, LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (4 October 2017) — The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $10 million grant to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic as additional financing to scale up efforts to improve food safety and ensure plant and animal health, as part of an initiative to improve sanitary and phytosanitary capacity in the country.
