The Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (CBTA) is a flagship initiative under the economic cooperation programme in the greater Mekong region for the facilitation of transport and trade. According to Vietnam`s Deputy Transport Minister, Nguyen Hong Truong, head of the host country`s delegation to the meeting, regional countries have built roads to connect with each other. However, they still do not have the implementation of intra-regional transport activities. The six GMS countries have fully ratified the main cbta agreement: the CBTA is designed in three stages or components, flexible and highly adaptable to changing needs. The first step is the most important agreement, which contains the basic principles of the system. Click here for CBTA. Transport companies are approved by their country of origin for international transport in accordance with the criteria set out in Schedule 9 of the CBTA. This licence cannot be sold or transferred by the transport operator to whom it was issued. Host countries recognize the operating licence issued by the countries of origin.
The GMS road transport licence, which is a sub-regional traffic rights system, and the GMS Customs Transit and Temporary Admission System (CTS), a sub-regional system of customs guarantees, were tested in the East-West Economic Corridor (EEEC). If fully implemented, CBTA will improve the efficiency of transport services by facilitating international transport, complementing economic corridors and physical infrastructure and investment, and creating a more favourable environment for cross-border trade, investment and tourism. The agreement will remove non-physical barriers to transport and trade in the region. The conditions of transport will be in accordance with the requirements of Schedule 10. International traffic prices are not set and are determined by market forces. However, prices are subject to restrictions on cartels and abuse of dominance and oversight by the joint committee to avoid excessive or too low prices. At the sub-regional level, there will be a joint committee of the GMS agreement on facilitating cross-border traffic. The joint committee is made up of six NTFC chiefs or chairs and the ADB serves as a secretariat. Representatives from other countries also agreed to expedite the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding and pledged to expedite the completion of their internal procedures for implementing MSG transport activities as soon as possible.
The CBTA is a comprehensive legal instrument that encompasses all non-physical measures relating to cross-border land transport. The CBTA allows vehicles, drivers, goods and passengers to cross national borders via the GMS road transport system. The third level includes bilateral and trilateral memorandums of understanding and detailed implementation arrangements. This structure allows for the amendments and protocols to be modified so that they can take into account the extension of the scope and the evolution of traffic. The agreement, supported by the Asian Development Bank in 1999, was then extended as a trilateral agreement between Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, with the participation of Cambodia, China and Myanmar. Full implementation of the GMS-CBTA is expected by 2019. The Greater Mekong Cross-Border Transport Agreement (GMS CBTA) Instruments and Drafting History is a collection of agreements, accession instruments and agreements forged between the GMS countries and brings together in a publication all the documents that make up the CBTA instrument.