On June 20, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province confirmed that it had assigned the Provincial Border Guard Command; Customs Branch of Region IX; Department of Foreign Affairs; Provincial Economic Zone Management Board to implement Resolution No. 180/NQ-CP on stopping one-stop inspection procedures at the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van international border gate pair.
The above Resolution was issued on June 18, in which the Government assigned the Ministry of Construction to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant ministries, branches and the People's Committee of Quang Tri province to carry out procedures to amend and supplement a number of contents in accordance with bilateral regulations and related processes of the framework of the expanded Mekong Subregion; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presides over and coordinates with relevant ministries and branches to carry out foreign procedures with the Lao side and related partners within the framework of the Agreement and facilitate the transportation of people and goods across the border between the countries of the expanded Mekong Subregion on stopping one-stop and one-stop inspection procedures at the above-mentioned pair of border gates.
The Government assigned the People's Committee of Quang Tri province to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to direct the functional forces of Sa-vat-na-khet and Laos provinces to implement inspection and control procedures at the Lao Bao - Den Sa-Van international border gate pair according to the provisions of the Agreement on regulations for border management and land border border gates between Vietnam and Laos signed on March 16, 2016 during the implementation of legal procedures for amending and supplementing the 2005 Memorandum of Understanding.
The reason the Government decided to stop implementing the one-stop-shop inspection procedure at the above border gate pair is that the People's Committees of Quang Tri province had previously proposed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and Laos to consider and report to the Prime Ministers of the two countries to agree to allow the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van International Border Gate pair to stop the one-stop-shop and return to operation like other international border gates on the Vietnam - Laos border.
The implementation of the one-stop inspection model has created a positive change for the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van international border gate pair. Accordingly, important goals have been initially achieved in the fields of simplification, reform of administrative procedures, facilitation of trade, investment, tourism and promotion of trade between the borders of Vietnam and Laos...
However, because this is a new, unprecedented model, piloted for the first time at the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van border gate, during the pilot operation, it has revealed many difficulties, limitations and many shortcomings.
It is known that 2015 is the year to start implementing all 4 steps of the one-stop, one-stop inspection process. After implementing step 4, the operating indicators at the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van International Border Gate pair began to decrease in 2015, a decrease quite deeply in 2016. From 2017 - 2020, the indicators have many positive changes, equal to or higher than the same period last year but are approaching 2014, the year that has not yet implemented step 4 of the model.
In April 2021, the policy of temporarily suspending the implementation of the one-stop, one-stop model at the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van International Border Gate pair was implemented due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. By May 2022, the Lao Bao - Den Sa Van International Border Gate pair officially opened the door for vehicles and passengers entering and exiting the border gate, increasing sharply again.
Currently, the transportation of imported and exported goods, the transit through Lao Bao international border gate is more diverse than before, including raw materials and goods from Canada, the US, China and domestic provinces and cities transported to international border gates to complete procedures to go through Laos and Thailand; raw materials and consumer goods from Thailand and Laos to other provinces and cities in the country and abroad also go through Lao Bao border gate.
