East–West Economic Corridor

The East–West Economic corridor is an economic development program initiated in order to promote development and integration of 5 Southeast Asian countries, namely: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The concept was agreed upon in 1998 at the Ministerial Conference of the Greater Mekong Subregion, organized in Manila, the Philippines. This corridor became operational on December 12, 2006.

The economic corridor is created based on a road of 1,450 km with the west end at port city of Mawlamyine (Myanmar), crossing Kayin Division, Thai provinces of Tak, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Khon Kaen, Kalasin and Mukdahan, the Laotian province of Savannakhet, and the Vietnamese provinces of Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên–Huế Province and Đà Nẵng city as the east end. From Myanmar it is further connected to India via India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway which is being upgraded, with most part already completed and remaining upgrade will be completed by 2020.

By using the East–West Economic Corridor, the travel time between Bangkok and Yangon is three days, compared with the two to three weeks needed for conventional marine transportation via the Straits of Malacca.