Prachuap Khiri Khan, May 13, 2024: Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs during a recent visit to the Tri Cove area engaged local officials on readiness to re-open and upgrade the province’s official border crossing with Myanmar.
H.E. Mr. Maris Sangiampongsa specifically sought out insights from local authorities and businesses regarding security and economic matters along the Thailand-Myanmar border.
The Singkhon-Mawtaung Special Point of Entry has been subject to intermittent closures since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, initially due to ‘public health’ concerns and, more recently, internal security issues in Myanmar. Meanwhile, construction of a new highway linking the Thai-Burmese border with the strategically significant port city of Mergui in southern Myanmar continues. Once fully open and operational, accessing the Bay of Bengal from the Gulf of Thailand could be a matter of only three to four hour drive.
Operating currently as a domestic border crossing that has facilited a limited flow of trade, the checkpoint has facilitated cross border movement of citizens and goods from both countries via temporary travel permits.
Plans to upgrade the border point into an international crossing were in place leading into the pandemic-era closure. Thailand has been eager to resume these plans, but internal security issues within Myanmar have caused further delays.
Upgrading to an international border crossing that enables cross-border travel by nationals of other countries would prove a significant boon for local tourism and trade, unlocking the vast Mergui archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, meeting the region’s burgeoning demand for tourism and trade opportunities.
Author: TriCove.Asia
TriCove.Asia Administrator.