4. The Greater Mekong Sub-region of Southeast Asia: Improving Logistics Connectivity

Traders in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) require efficient logistics services that can move their goods to the proper place, at the promised time, in the right condition, and at a suitable price. The GMS in Southeast Asia is composed of Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. It is, therefore, of great importance that regional linkages among neighbouring countries be enhanced, in order to facilitate trade and develop logistics for better access to the “global” market. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a description and rating of the GMS logistics system. The Greater Mekong Sub-region has focused on an “economic corridor” approach to economic integration; assessment of the logistics performance of these corridors is thus needed. Even though there is a GMS agreement that was ratified to facilitate the crossing of borders, it was still observed during our study that the weakest links in the various economic corridors remain the border crossings.