China and the other five countries along the Mekong River Tuesday signed an agreement in Beijing to build a modern and user-friendly transportation network.

Officials from countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) agreed on a joint proposal for improved road systems and simplified cross-border procedures.

Transport ministers from China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam signed the last four of the 20 annexes and protocols of the GMS Cross-Border Transport Agreement, a multilateral instrument designed to facilitate cross-border trade and transport.

According to the pact, the six countries will remove or reduce non-physical barriers across borders, such as setting up single-stop customs inspections, providing visa assistance for cross-border trade, and allowing vehicles to pass across borders with fewer checks. The six nations are also committed to improving the sub-regional transportation infrastructure, with finances generated internally and from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"Improving transport infrastructure and lowering trade barriers is crucial to the economic development of the Mekong subregion and for reducing poverty," said Arjun Thapan, director general of the ADB's Southeast Asia Department. "This agreement is a crucial instrument for advancing trade, investment, tourism and access to vital services."

The transport initiative is part of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program that started in 1992 and is aimed at building a prosperous, integrated and harmonious subregion by enhancing connectivity, competitiveness and a greater sense of community.

The program's priority projects and activities cover nine sectors: transport, energy, telecommunications, the environment, agriculture, human resources, trade facilitation, investment and tourism.

As part of the program, ADB has provided 1.232 billion U.S. dollars in loans for seven highway, expressway and railway projects in Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region since 1994.

Weng Mengyong, vice-minister of communications, said the Chinese government is fully committed to cooperation within the GMS which has yielded substantial results.

For example, the Kunming-Bangkok Highway's section in Laos, funded by China, was completed in June 2006, a year ahead of schedule. The 247-kilometer road, which was previously usable only in the dry season, is now an all-weather surface.

The Kunming-Hanoi-Haiphong Highway's section in China (401 km) is expected to be completed before the end of this year.

As the 12th longest river in the world, the 4,880-km Mekong River is the most important international river in Southeast Asia. It originates in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China and runs through Yunnan Province of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.