(3) Malaysia: It is the most advanced developing market economy among bordering countries. During the last 17 years, the bilateral cumulative cross-border trade value was 97.94 billion US$. The aggregate bilateral cross-border trade value expanded from 0.82 billion US$ in 1996 to 16.60 billion US$ in 2012, which represents 56.66% of the aggregate cross-border trade value with four-neighboring countries (Figure 5). As a result, Thailand gained a favorable cumulative balance of cross-border trade of 20.37 billion US$. The aggregate cross-border trade export sharply escalated from 0.54 billion US$ in 1996 to 9.75 billion US$ in 2012. In almost 2 decades, the annual average growth of cross-border exports is 22%. In 2012, Padang Besar border checkpoint was the key export platform facilitating a high share of 50.18%,
followed by Sadao border checkpoint (47.60%), Betong (1.73%) and Sungai-Golok (0.33%). The rest was contributed by four other checkpoints. The major exported goods through Sadao border checkpoint were natural rubber, parts and accessories of machinery, electrical parts, processed parawood, particle board, rubber hand gloves and print circuit board (Department of Customs of Thailand 2012a). The aggregate cross-border import also sharply increased from 0.28 billion US$ in 1996 to 6.85 billion US$ in 2012. In almost 2 decades, the annual average growth of cross-border imports is 22%. Sadao border