Cross-border Transport Facilitation in Inland ASEAN and the ASEAN Economic Community

Abstract

The year 2015 was a great milestone for the ASEAN with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). There, too, was the release of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), a set of strategic documents that details how to achieve overall ASEAN connectivity and identifies projects that need to be immediately implemented for the period 2011–2015. This master plan aims to connect the ASEAN through enhanced physical infrastructure development (physical connectivity), effective institutions, mechanisms and processes (institutional connectivity), and empowered people (people-to-people connectivity). The first purpose of the research project of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization’s (IDE–JETRO) entitled, “New Developments for Cross-border Transport Facilitation in the Inland ASEAN and Establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community” is to review the efforts in the MPAC. Chapter 2 presents the transport facilitation undertaken in Inland ASEAN including ASEAN Framework Agreement on the facilitation of Goods in Transit (AFAFGIT) and Cross-Border Transport Agreement (CBTA) under the scheme of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program. Chapters 4 and 5 analyse Lao PDR and Myanmar’s efforts to eliminate missing road links and to upgrade certain roads to the Class III level. On the other hand, Chapters 3 and 6 look at some roads that have been upgraded recently in Cambodia and in Viet Nam, although these improvement initiatives were not listed in the MPAC.