Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries reached an agreement last week on the implementation of the cross-border transport facilitation agreement (CBTA), which, starting June 1, will enable the issuance of regional road transport permits and temporary admission documents for commercial vehicles.
Transport ministers from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and China signed on Thursday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the ‘early harvest’ implementation of the CBTA during the sixth meeting of the joint committee for the CBTA in Hanoi.
“The ministers are pleased to announce completion of the signature of the MoU, allowing the effective launch of GMS road transport permits and temporary admission documents for commercial vehicles starting June 1,” a statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport said.
CBTA is an agreement that seeks the elimination of border inspections within GMS. It promotes the eradication of intermediary stops (also known as transshipment), and seeks to boost commercial activity by reducing the amount of time spent crossing borders.
The deal reached last week grants all member countries a quota of 500 cargo trucks to cross borders using temporary admission documents, which covers both lorries and the containers they carry.
The ministers also agreed to continue to work towards the common goals of transforming transport corridors into economic corridors and aligning their transport and trade facilitation efforts with the Asean Economic Community Blueprint 2015 and investment needs identified in the GMS regional investment framework.
