Hanoi sees need to improve cross-border road transport

Current shortcomings in road transport across the border between Vietnam and other countries in the region need to be addressed to enhance connectivity to the international road transport system, experts said.
Phan Thi Thu Hien, deputy general director of the Vietnam Road Administration, recently stated that Vietnam had many geographic advantages to participate in transnational transport, but current difficulties had created many barriers to international transport connections and socio-economic development.
Although Vietnam and other countries in the region such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand have made agreements to facilitate road transport, border linkage has not been fully implemented because of differences in legislation systems, Hien said.
According to traffic experts, road-transport agreements have facilitated trade and tourism development and cost reduction, increased competitiveness and contributed to the socio-economic development.
Many border agreements have been adopted. But the number of vehicles travelling through border gates among countries in the region is still limited, Hien said.
Nguyen Tuong, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Logistics Association, said that although many transport agreements had been signed, the regulations of the signatory countries had not yet been unified, resulting in difficulties to multilateral transport operations.
Problems include left- and right-hand traffic conventions, insurance liability for motorised vehicles, lack of storage and procedural delays, Tuong said.
In addition, incomplete traffic systems at main border gates between Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia have reduced the efficiency of cross-border road transport, experts said.
Many border gates could not meet demand during peak hours, Tuong said.
He suggested that Vietnam needs to build a strategy and policies quickly for the development of cross-border transport, especially transport corridors.
This will be particularly significant as the country integrates into the Asean Economic Community, he said.
There should be more policies developing cross-border transport of goods in transit in order to attract goods from Cambodia and Laos, especially goods transported by containers.
According to the head of the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport’s Road Safety Department, Nguyen Van Thach, the current bilateral agreements on road transport between Vietnam and other countries in the region have progressed very slowly.
At present, only a few Vietnamese transport businesses have been licensed to haul freight throughout the territory of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and some provinces of China, Thach said.
To facilitate transport, Asean countries need to formulate regulations and simplify administrative procedures to speed up the implementation of one-stop-shop customs models so as to reduce the time of customs clearance procedures, and promote connections and trading among countries in the region, he added.
As an example, he showed how the customs clearance time between Vietnam and Laos at border gates had been reduced sharply since applying this model. It takes only 15 minutes for a truck to make a customs declaration at the Lao Bao-Densavan gate between Vietnam and Laos, he said.
“Vietnam has the advantage of being located on international routes, so cross-border transport plays a special role. Therefore, relevant agencies need to join hands to strengthen enforcement of the signed agreements on cross-border transport development,” Thach said.