The Prime Minister recently signed a decision to upgrade Tan Nam to an international border gate in southern Tay Ninh Province, provincial party secretary Tran Luu Quang said on Monday.

The Tan Nam border gate is located in a convenient location for the regional economic region -- at Tan Binh Commune, Tan Bien District, opposite the Meanchey border gate in Cam Chay Mia District, Pray Veng Province, Cambodia.

The two border gates of Tan Nam and Mienchay are some 150km from HCM City of Viet Nam and about 120km from Phnom Penh City of Cambodia.

The establishment of two international border gates in the region will facilitate travel, transport and exchange of import and export goods for people in the northern part of Tay Ninh Province and neighboring provinces, according to Tran Luu Quang.

It will also shorten the time by one-third when travelling from HCM City to Phnom Penh City by land compared with the old route passing through the Moc Bai international border gate.

Quang said the provincial authorities plan to propose to the Government to expand the Tan Nam international border gate according to the trend of ecotourism because this border area is located at Lo Go-Xa Mat National Park.

However, work related to upgrading road and technical infrastructure connecting the neighbouring areas with the border gate needs significant investment, because the transport infrastructure here wasn’t meeting the increasing demand for an international border gate’s operation.

In the future, Tay Ninh Province will have three international border gates Moc Bai, Xa Mat and Tan Nam, four main domestic border gates and 11 extra-border gates to serve trade exchange in the region, especially with Cambodia. — VNS