A source from Chongqing Municipal Transportation Bureau said on January 9 that Chongqing had obtained the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Road Transport Permit. Chongqing Transportation Holdings Group Co., Ltd. has successfully applied for the first batch of eight permits. The move marks the further improvement of Chongqing's cross-border road channel system and a new chapter of its participation in Lancang-Mekong cooperation.
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It will also be easier for Chongqing's cross-border vehicles to travel between GMS countries, saving at least one hour in clearance.
GMS covers countries and regions along the Mekong River, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Yunnan Province of China.
In 2014, China proposed establishing the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism (LMC for short), with the other five countries' participation in the region. In 2018, the six countries signed a memorandum on the unlimited pass for freight vehicles with GMS Road Transport Permits through the agreed border ports and on specified routes, enabling cross-border road transport and direct point-to-point delivery of goods. In May 2019, GMS international road transport was launched in Guangxi and Yunnan successively. According to preliminary statistics, more than 170 GMS Road Transport Permits have been issued in China.
The route map of Chongqing cross-border regular lorry.
"A GMS Road Transport Permit equals to a 'visa' for transport vehicles in GMS," the head from Chongqing Municipal Transportation Bureau explained that the Permit enabled cross-border transport vehicles to enter Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam for unlimited times within a specified period of time and allowed them to enjoy some facilitation measures in cross-border procedures, road sign, freight, customs inspection and registration of vehicles. Moreover, it allows vehicles to directly transport goods from one place to another and arrive at the third country from the second one, bringing lower freight and more efficient transport.
In recent years, Chongqing Municipal Transportation Bureau, together with Chongqing Port and Logistics Office and the People's Government of Banan District, has actively communicated with the Department of Transport of Yunnan Province and Transport Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on issuing GMS Road Transport Permits. So far, Yunnan and Guangxi have agreed to issue 10 Permits to Chongqing, respectively. Chongqing Transportation Holdings Group Co., Ltd. has successfully applied for the first batch of 8 permits. The rest will be issued soon.