Mekong Institute (MI), in collaboration with the Office of Commercial Affairs, gathers cross-border traders, farmers, and farm managers and agricultural merchants in a training program on Cross-border Trade Procedures of Agricultural Products this July 30-31, 2019 in Nakhon Phanom Province, Thailand. Fifty participants come from Nakhon Phanom and Khammouane, Lao PDR.  

Aimed at promoting and enhancing cross-border trade facilitation of agricultural products between the two countries and the two border provinces, the training combines regulatory knowledge and practical approach to address the lack of understanding of local traders on requirements, policies, and procedures of cross-border transactions. In doing so, the training program covers up-to-date agricultural trade situations, standard compliance, and import-export processes complemented by a structured learning visit to a logistics company and border crossing point in Nakhon Phanom. 

In his opening remarks, Mr. Khamnuan Suwandee, Director of the Office of Commercial Affairs in Nakhon Phanom, stated that “the training is an important and meaningful collaboration between entrepreneurs in Nakhon Phanom and Khammouane because the import-export is connected to three provinces in three countries (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand; Khammouane, Lao PDR and Quang Binh, Vietnam) along Rd. 12.” According to him, the training can foster better understanding on import-export procedures to drive the smooth growth of cross-border trade.

As an initiative borne out of the Nakhon Phanom-Quang Binh-Khammouane Business to Government Dialogue in April this year, the training continues to serve as a platform for exchange among officials and stakeholders from both sides of the 3rd Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge International Border to share and discuss import-export procedures for a streamlined and efficient border trade.

The training program is delivered under MI’s Regional and Local Economic Development Project (RLED-EWEC) through the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. To learn more about the project, visit http://www.mekonginstitute.org/what-we-do/ongoing-projects/rled-ewec-project