Cambodia and Thailand Close to Railway Transportation Agreement

• 11 June 2018
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Cambodia and Thailand are near to reaching a bilateral agreement on the “Railway Transportation Agreement” following a recent meeting between the two countries.

Last week, Cambodia Minister for Public Works and Transport (MPWT) H.E Sun Chanthol and his counterpart ArkhomTermpittayapaisith met to finalise the draft agreement on the cooperation to transport goods and people by train through the shared Poipet border.

As a result of the meeting, the two parties agreed on three outstanding issues, while Thailand will speed up its internal procedures in order to be able to sign the agreement in the very near future. Mr.Termpittayapaisith said that the official signing ceremony is expected to take place in the next few months.

Meanwhile, the two parties had also sent out their working groups to further negotiate the transport procedures and quantity of cargo, according to H.E Sun Chanthol.

Cambodia requested the Thai side to provide railroad tracks for the construction of the 60-kilometre rail line connecting Serey Sophorn to Battambang. The Thai side acknowledged the request and had asked Cambodia to send an official letter of request.

This railway transportation agreement will help boost bilateral trade between the two countries. Last year, according to figures from Trade Map by the International Trade Centre (ITC), Cambodia imported more than US$5 billion of goods from Thailand and Thailand imported US$900 million from Cambodia.