New Delhi, July 23 (IANS): The government on Thursday reported that the transport secretaries of India, Myanmar and Thailand (IMT) recently met to give final touches to their motor vehicle agreement (MVA).

According to the government, the IMT motor vehicles accord is significant for fostering closer regional economic cooperation through enhanced connectivity by road.

"A meeting of the secretaries of transport of IMT was held in Bangkok on 13-14 July to reach consensus on the IMT MVA which has been under negotiation since March 2015," the road transport and highways ministry was quoted in a statement.

The ministry said the text of the MVA has already been finalised in a meeting held in June 2015 at Bengaluru.

"The meeting at Bangkok was primarily to discuss and finalise the protocol of the IMT MVA," the statement said.

The ministry said that the transport secretaries' meeting was preceded by the IMT customs sub-group meeting which was held on July 13, 2015.

"Consensus was reached that the customs issues identified would be incorporated in the protocols," the statement added.

It is expected that the IMT MVA will be signed by November 2015 and the implementation phase will start by December, with the project envisaged to be operational by 2016.