Major trade route to benefit from new digital information website
Thailand has joined with Laos and Vietnam to create a data centre that will facilitate trade along the interconnected R12 Route.
The three countries inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Bangkok on Thursday under which they will work together to create an online platform called “r12connex” which would allow the sharing of necessary information concerning border trade on the R12 route.
The 1,499-kilometres-long R12 links the three ASEAN nations together, starting from Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom province and ending at Vietnam’s Quảng Bình province.
The platform will provide information on laws, customs procedures, phytosanitary clearance, transit procedures, and cargo clearing in the three countries, with regular updates in case any regulatory alterations are made.
Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam agreed to comply with the “paperless” trade system, meaning that redundant documentation processes would be dropped.
“This partnership will help reduce time spent on custom processes and any other documentation procedures while reducing trade and logistics costs by 30 per cent,” Wimon Punkong, deputy executive director of the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), said during the signing ceremony.
He added that the r12connex would act as a “big data centre” for individuals doing business along borders.
Wimon added that R12 is the main route used by Thailand to export its fruit, especially durian, to China as it is the shortest trade route from Thailand to the Chinese territory, adding that its trade value is worth up to 30 billion baht.
Suphakit Chareonkul, ITD’s executive director, expressed the hope that Thai agricultural products would continue to grow so that more Thai businesses could set up factories in Laos and Vietnam to sell their goods to China and Japan.
“The initiative stems from our determination to overcome trade impediments along the R12. We recognise the importance of this connectivity to the development of international investment which would move us forward together with no one left behind,” he said.
All three ASEAN countries also promised to regularly exchange knowledge over digital transformation, data privacy, and legislative frameworks.
