Govt okays cargo truck border deal

Govt okays cargo truck border deal

Arkhom: Pact will be effective in 12 months
Arkhom: Pact will be effective in 12 months

The cabinet approved the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cross-Border Transport Agreement (GMS CBTA) on Tuesday, which grants all members a quota of 500 cargo trucks to cross a border to another country.

Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said the cabinet approved the agreement at its weekly meeting and the first phase of the deal will be implemented later this year.

Once approved, the pact must be put into action within 12 months, he said.

Under the terms of the deal, cargo trucks from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and China will be able to cross borders into other member countries using a so-called "temporary admission document", which covers both trucks and the containers they carry, he said.

But at first only Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and China will fully implement the agreement as Myanmar says it is not ready, he said.

The minister said Myanmar has asked that it begin with Thailand first and limit the cross-border transport activities to the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing.

The initial quota for cargo trucks allowed to cross the Thai-Myanmar border will be somewhere between 100 and 200, he said.

Currently, only cargo trucks will be allowed to cross the borders of other member countries, he said. More talks will take place later this year to potentially open this up to include the transportation of people, he added.

In Thailand, the GMS CBTA will be implemented at four immigration checkpoints included in the transport routes under the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) and the North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC) projects, Mr Arkhom said.

These are the Chiang Khong checkpoint serving the northern route, the Mae Sot checkpoint on the western route, the Mukdahan checkpoint on the eastern route and the Aranyaprathet checkpoint on the southern route, he added.

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