Five Reasons Air Travel Is Booming in the Greater Mekong Subregion
The Greater Mekong Subregion is one of the fast-growing markets for air transport services today.
Developing transport infrastructure in tandem with policies and procedures for crossing borders and promoting trade has been central to efforts to interconnect the Greater Mekong Subregion countries.
The Subregional Transport Forum reviews, coordinates and monitors regional transport plans and projects of GMS member countries.
Transport lies at the heart of Greater Mekong Subregion cooperation. The development of physical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, in tandem with policies and procedures for crossing borders and developing trade along key routes, has been central to efforts to forge a truly interconnected subregion.
Physically connecting the countries of the subregion was one of the first initiatives of the GMS program when it was founded in 1992. The countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion have acknowledged that in order to cooperate in trade, tourism, and investment, and to realize the other benefits of the region, they must expand the road links and border crossings that connect them.
This is being done through the development of “economic corridors,” which are geographic areas, often along major highways, where a variety of development projects are undertaken to maximize their development benefits. This might include projects involving infrastructure, laws and regulations, market development, and the improvement of urban centers. Economic corridors bring a wide range of benefits, far beyond what single projects deliver in terms of development impact.
The three main GMS corridors—the East–West, North–South and Southern economic corridors—have improved the lives of millions of people in the Greater Mekong Subregion. These corridors are being enhanced with secondary roads that extend their benefits to nearby communities most in need, and other roads that link to strategic seaports in the subregion. The regulatory details of how people and goods can best move along these corridors are also currently being worked out.
The GMS Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030) will prioritize intermodal approaches, facilitate cross-border transport, and seek improvement in logistics, asset management, and road safety. Given the rise in GMS economic density, and with respect to its environmental considerations, GMS-2030 aims to ensure the development of railway networks; sea, river, and dry ports; and inland waterways. Investments in airports to improve connections with the rest of Asia and the world will be essential, as will the development of secondary roads that will link to main corridors to expand the benefits to poorer communities. An effort will be made to integrate urban transport with the GMS transport network. GMS-2030 was endorsed and adopted at the 7th GMS Summit of Leaders in September 2021. It aims to provide a new setting for the development of this subregion for the next decade.
Related
• GMS Transport Sector Strategy 2030
• GMS Transport Strategy 2006–2015
Focal Persons at the Asian Development Bank
Steven Schipani
Water and Urban Development Sector Office
Sectors Group
Dee Suvimol Thanasarakij (Ms.)
Executive Director,
Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office
www.mekongtourism.org
Other Concerned Staff & Consultants
Zulfia Karimova, EAPF
Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
Central and West Asia Department
Mark Bezuijen
Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development Sector Office
Sectors Group
Asadullah Sumbal
Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
Southeast Asia Department
Alma Canarejo
Regional Cooperation and Integration Unit
Southeast Asia Department/GMS Secretariat
Send inquiries to GMS Secretariat.
The Greater Mekong Subregion is one of the fast-growing markets for air transport services today.
HA NOI, VIET NAM (18 December 2017) — The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $150 million loan to help improve economic connectivity and raise living standards in four of Viet Nam’s northeastern provinces by enhancing basic infrastructure and services.
HA NOI, VIET NAM (20 September 2017) — Ministers from the six member countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion today endorsed a five-year action plan framework that includes $64 billion in projects to help the subregion achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Economic corridors, like the East-West Corridor running through the Greater Mekong Subregion, are much more than just highways. They link a variety of economic activities and have wide-ranging impacts.
HA NOI, VIET NAM (25 November 2014) – The Asian Development Bank and the Government of Viet Nam today signed a $50 million loan agreement to upgrade Viet Nam’s tourism infrastructure, boost tourist spending, and create more jobs in the industry for poor and ethnic minority communities.
A long stretch of road linking several provinces of Myanmar, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Viet Nam is home to many impoverished farmers. But things are slowly changing. Thanks to an improved road system, farmers now have an opportunity to distribute their agricultural products over long distances, reaching large, rich markets across the region. Farmers are also adding value to agricultural
(Left to Right) Sok Chenda Sophea, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister, Secretary General Council for Development of Cambodia; Hong Xiao Yong, PRC Ambassador to Viet Nam; Somchith Inthamith, Vice Minister, Ministry of Planning, Lao PDR; Nguyen Chi Dung, Vice Minister, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Viet Nam; Lei Lei Thein, Deputy Minister, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, Myanmar; Porametee Vimolsiri, Deputy Secretary General, National Economic and Social Development Board, Thailand; and Bindu Lohani, Vice-President, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, ADB. Photo: ADB.
HA NOI, VIET NAM (8 August 2014) – The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) needs to ensure that economic corridors yield benefits in terms of trade, investment, and jobs, participants at the 6th GMS Economic Corridors Forum (ECF) heard today.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (12 February 2013) – The Asian Development Bank and Government of Australia are providing an extra $37 million for a project improving roads and tackling HIV and human trafficking risks along a key coastal route linking Viet Nam and Cambodia.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (29 November 2010) - The Asian Development Bank will extend $95 million to help the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Viet Nam upgrade roads in the northeastern transport corridor that offers trade and poverty reduction benefits to both countries, as well as the wider Mekong region.