GMS ministers endorse plan to accelerate
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Countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) have endorsed measures to expedite and expand cross-border transport and trade, including stepping up bilateral and trilateral country agreements.
“Intra-regional trade, tourism, and investments are essential for boosting growth and standards of living in the subregion,” said James Lynch, director of the Asian Development Bank’s Regional Cooperation Division in the Southeast Asia Department.
“Member countries have agreed to continue to fast-track and streamline transport and trade facilitation measures, and we will continue to accelerate our common goals of transforming transport corridors into economic corridors.”
At the fourth Joint Committee Meeting for the GMS Cross Border Transport Agreement in Nay Pyi Taw, subregional transport ministers endorsed a three-year action plan (2013-16) to support implementation of the next phase of transport and trade facilitation measures.
This pioneering transport agreement, ratified in 2003, provides a blueprint for non-physical measures needed to boost cross-border land transport, including “single stop” customs inspections.
The ADB is a key development partner of the GMS, and serves as secretariat for the Joint Committee.
The GMS, with strong support from development partners, including the ADB and the Australian Aid Programme, has made significant headway since 2010 with bilateral transport and traffic-rights agreements; agreement on the extension of the East-West Economic Corridor to include key capitals and deep seaports; and the launch of a transport and trade facilitation knowledge portal.
Among the most significant recent achievements are an agreement between the China and Vietnam allowing trucks and buses of both countries to travel into each other’s inland territories along a 1,300-kilometre route, boosting tourism and trade.
The three-year action plan targets swifter implementation of bilateral traffic rights agreements between China and Myanmar and Myanmar and Thailand, and implementation of trilateral agreements among China, Laos and Thailand, as well as Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
It will also aim to expand transport and trade routes, increase transport permit quotas under traffic-rights exchanges, further streamline and improve customs procedures, and encourage the establishment of cross-border vehicle-insurance mechanisms.
The ADB is a lead supporter of the GMS Economic Cooperation Programme, developed to strengthen transport, trade and tourism links, boost competitiveness, improve access to social services, increase energy access and security, and protect the environment.
GMS members are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan province and the Guangxi autonomous region in China. The subregion, bound together by the Mekong River, covers an area about the size of Western Europe and has a combined population larger than that of the United States.
The ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region.
Last year, ADB assistance totalled US$21.6 billion (Bt688 billion), including co-financing of $8.3 billion.
