The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and Its Possible Eastward Extension to Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam: Challenges and Opportunities

About the Study:

The Trilateral Highway (TLH) exemplifies the letter and spirit of connectivity between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It connects India, Myanmar, and Thailand, and is linked with ASEAN’s connectivity plans. Still a project under construction, its potential contribution to the economic growth and development of the region is indubitable. This study examines the maximising of these objectives through a proposed extension of TLH to Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Viet Nam.

Based on a mandate from the ASEAN–India Summit Meeting of 2018 and commissioned by the Government of India, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) has studied the feasibility of establishing a seamless, efficient, and end-to-end transportation corridor along the existing TLH and its extension towards Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. This study offers physical, institutional, and economic pathways, along with policy recommendations for the development of TLH and its eastwards extension. The need for seamless physical connectivity has never been felt like it is now. The study on the TLH and its eastward extension fulfils this current need, and also lays down pathways for medium- and longer-term integrated connectivity solutions between India and ASEAN.