CAMBODIA and Vietnam have agreed to double the number of vehicles allowed to cross the border each day, in a bid to boost tourism and business activities.

The agreement was signed between both countries’ ministers of public works and transportation in Phnom Penh late last week, said Mom Sibon, secretary of state at the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, yesterday.

The move would allow the total number of vehicles crossing international checkpoints each way – at Bavet and Trapaing Plong – to double from 150 to 300 per day.

“We see the number of Vietnamese tourists visiting our country is increasing, and business activities between our two countries are also growing. That requires us to increase the number of vehicles,” he said.

Tith Chan Tha, director general at the Tourism Ministry, confirmed that dramatic increases in Vietnamese tourists needed to be coupled with additional transport, and that his ministry has been working with transportation officials and other concerned parties for a long time.

“This is a very good step to boost cross-border activities,” he said.

Tourist arrivals from Vietnam rose about 46 percent in the first half of 2010 to 215,496, from 147,721 in the same period last year.

Freight company TNT Ex-press Worldwide (Cambodia)’s Country Manager, Sjaak de Klein, said yesterday: “We look forward to similar progress with the Thai-Cambodian border – that’s where an increase would allow for substantially more cross-border business.”