Cambodia plans another int’l border gate with Vietnam

Container lorries at Moc Bai Intenational Border Gate in Vietnam's southern province of Tay Ninh, which borders Cambodia (Photo: VNA)

 The Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) is seeking to open a new international border gate with Vietnam to facilitate container cross-border traffic between the two countries.

Speaking during the recent 20th Cambodia-Japan public-private sector meeting,  Secretary of State at this ministry Nou Savath said the MPWT minister plans to lead an inter-ministerial working group to examine another international border gate with Vietnam for container crossing because the pair of Bavet – Moc Bai border gates is getting heavily congested.

Cambodia is considering opening a new border gate, Prey Vor in Cambodia with Binh Hiep in Vietnam, to ease the procedure for both customs and relevant institutions to reduce the container congestion in Bavet, he said.

According to the official, Bavet international border gate used to have between 250 to 300 container trucks crossing a day, but with COVID-19, only 70 go through a day. 

He said the minister will also ask the government to prepare the terminal for containers to ease the traffic jam, adding: “We also want to prepare different lines for different goods containers and empty containers and we also have to prepare a line for passengers and small goods as well.”

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam dropped 8.1 percent year-on-year to 2.17 billion USD in the first five months of 2020 on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to figures from the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh./.

VNA