Growing Together: Economic Integration for an Inclusive and - escap

BOX II.5. The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Agreement on Facilitation of
Cross-Border Transport of Goods and People
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Agreement is a multilateral instrument for
the facilitation of cross-border transport of goods and people. The Agreement
provides a practical approach in the short to medium term, to streamlining
regulations and reducing nonphysical barriers in GMS. It incorporates the
principles of bilateral or multilateral action and flexibility to recognize procedural
differences in each of the GMS countries, and includes references to existing
international conventions that have demonstrated their usefulness. It also takes
into account and is consistent with similar initiatives being undertaken by ASEAN.
The specific aspects which are covered in this agreement are: a
i. single-stop/single window customs inspection;
ii. cross-border movement of people, goods, and vehicles;
iii. simplification and harmonization of border clearance formalities,
procedures and documents;
iv. transit traffic regimes, including exemption from physical customs
inspection, bond deposit, escort, phytosanitary and veterinary inspection;
v. advance exchange of information;
vi. requirements that road vehicles must meet to be eligible for cross border
traffic;
vii. exchange of commercial traffic rights; and
viii. infrastructure, including road and bridge design standards, road signs
and signals.
a ESCAP and ADB 2009, Designing and Implementing Trade Facilitation in Asia and the Pacific.
potential of efficiency seeking industrial
restructuring across the Asia-Pacific region.
To fully exploit the potential of regional
economic integration and for efficiencyseeking
industrial restructuring to take
place, the Asia-Pacific region needs a broader
regional trade and economic cooperation
arrangement that should (i) be wider in
coverage, extending to all economies in the
ESCAP region; (ii) extend to substantially
all trade using a negative list basis, for
consistency with GATT Art. XXIV and GATS
Art. V; and (iii) have comprehensive scope,
covering trade in services, investment, trade
and transit facilitation and cooperation.
Such agreement should be progressively
deepened, and it should also be equitable
and provide special and differential treatment
to poorer countries, as well as assistance for
lagging geographical areas and vulnerable
sections of the population. In this study, we
suggest three possible routes to evolve a
broader integrated market in the Asia-Pacific
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