From May 24 to 25, the Special Meeting of the Joint Committee of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) National Transport Facilitation Committee and the Senior Officials Meeting were held in Hanoi, Vietnam. Vice Minister of Transport Liu Xiaoming led the Chinese delegation to attend. At the meeting, Liu Xiaoming and Thai Minister of Transport Arkhom took the lead in signing the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Implementation of the "Early Harvest" of the Greater Mekong Subregion Agreement on Facilitating Cross-Border Transport of Goods and People" (hereinafter referred to as the "Early Harvest" Memorandum of Understanding) on behalf of their respective governments.

Liu Xiaoming pointed out at the meeting that promoting transport and trade facilitation is one of the main goals of economic cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion and an important part of the Chinese government's "Belt and Road" initiative. He urged other countries that failed to sign the "Early Harvest" Memorandum of Understanding at this meeting to complete the relevant domestic procedures as soon as possible, sign and promote its implementation as soon as possible. He stressed that the vigorous development of international cooperation under the "Belt and Road" initiative has provided new opportunities for the further development of the GMS economy and society. He hoped that all countries would seize the precious opportunity to promote the implementation of specific measures for cross-border transport facilitation, promote the realization of GMS transport facilitation and economic cooperation development goals, and bring benefits to the people of all countries.

Akong highly agreed with Liu Xiaoming's suggestion to speed up the signing and implementation of the "Early Harvest" Memorandum, believing that this will promote cross-border transport facilitation while enhancing the region's attractiveness to private investors. He called on GMS countries to speed up the reform of relevant laws, regulations and management systems to make the flow of goods and people freer.

During the meeting, the participating countries reached a new timeline and work plan for accelerating the signing and implementation of the "Early Harvest" Memorandum, and focused on the revision of the "Agreement on Facilitating Cross-Border Transport of Goods and People in the Greater Mekong Subregion", focusing on the opening of new GMS cross-border road transport routes and entry and exit stations. Liu Xiaoming also exchanged views with leaders of transportation departments of Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries on issues of common concern such as strengthening bilateral international road transport cooperation.

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