This report updates a scoping study that was carried out by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2014 on the development of a border economic area between Malaysia and Thailand. Following that report, the two governments decided to initially focus on the border economic area (BEA) in the Malaysian state of Kadah and the Thai province of Songkhla since it handles the largest volume of cross-border movement of goods and people.

The present report updates development since 2014 in that area.The project builds on the IMT-GT connectivity corridors that serve as the channel through which development is to disseminate to areas throughout the sub-region. Impact of economic area along Malaysia-Thailand border is expected to link to Indonesia through connectivity to other corridors and serve as a sub-regional-level model for IMT-GT.

For a video on the project, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpgpN8Y2dYk&feature=youtu.be.

This monograph deals with the emergence and characteristics of special border zones in Thailand and how they are able to deal with the range of situations that exist along the country’s borders. It brings together practical tools and experiences surrounding Thailand’s border area development. Its emphasis is on new directions being adopted to drive economic growth and social development in those regions that could otherwise lag behind the rapid growth of agglomerations near major international gateways.

It provides the basic tools and methodologies required to adequately evaluate and plan the location, coverage, incentives and financing for border development areas. In so doing, it emphasizes practical issues needed to implement special border development zones in ways that ensure that the choice of projects, programs and institutions designated for the border areas are based on international best practices.

It covers special border zones at three levels: first, it describes their characteristics in terms of common features and operational components; second, it covers the overall strategic approach to their design and adaption to specific area requirements; and, third, it provides details on practical steps involved in their implementation and operationalization.

The report provides a review and analysis of the findings from the scoping study on the proposed Malaysian–Thailand Special Border Economic Zone (SBEZ). The coverage of the study is guided by the recommendations of the IMT-GT Special Implementation Task Force on the Establishment of a Special Border Economic Zone (hereafter TF-SBEZ) at its meeting in Penang, Malaysia on 22 November 2013. At that time, the TF-SBEZ determined that that present study should be a stand-alone study, comprehensive in nature and cover in-depth all the SBEZ components for each of the eight border crossing areas in the Thai-Malaysian border, including linkages to Indonesia.

Based on those findings, the TF-SBEZ requested that the present study make recommendations to the Task Force on the possible location(s) of the SBEZ. The study is part of a broader project that intends to support the establishment of an SBEZ that will help to attract investors in productive activities that promote subregional value chains in order to stimulate cross-border trade and investment, serve as a catalyst to commerce along the IMT-GT corridors and help to substantially improve the social and economic welfare of the population along the border provinces.

Trade-related capacity building support through delivery of training course for trade policy impact on poverty alleviation, with case studies.