The GMS-ECP is expected to play an important role in narrowing existing gap and reducing poverty while expanding and deepening the regional integration. It started with six development sectors, and now it is now composed of nine sectors, namely: 1) Transportation; 2) Telecommunication; 3) Energy; 4) Human Resource; 5) Environment; 6) Trade; 7) Investment; 8) Tourism; and 9) Agriculture.
The key feature of the GMS-ECP has been the focus in the development of transport infrastructure to effectively allow goods that have been produced by remote villages among the CLMV countries to reach major markets in the region as well as overseas. This effort include the improvement of the functional of the transportation networks, lowering of cross-border barriers through an effective Cross Border Trade Agreement (CBTA), improving exports capability, creating marketing demands for the remote areas, and developing special economic regions at the borders between relatively developed countries, like Thailand