ASEAN agrees to ease flow of vehicles

ASEAN agrees to ease flow of vehicles

SINGAPORE (AFP): ASEAN member-states agreed on Thursday to
hasten cross-border movement of commercial vehicles and goods as
the group launched work on a blueprint to bolster regional
transport systems.

Transport ministers from ASEAN signed an agreement to
recognize each other's commercial vehicle inspection standards
and endorsed another pact to hasten movement of goods while in
transit within the region.

They told a joint news conference that the pacts would reduce
costs and time and enhance trade and the free flow of goods
within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Singapore's Communications Minister Mah Bow Tan said the
regional economic crisis stemming from rapid currency
depreciations since mid-1997 made it more urgent for ASEAN to
enhance its economic competitiveness through cooperation.

"The environment has changed significantly. The crisis has
required us, in fact forced us, to have a greater sense of
urgency to (enhance) linkages within ASEAN," Mah said.

"Our objective is to have a freer movement (of commercial
vehicles and goods) across borders not just on a bilateral basis
but also on a multilateral basis," he added.

The ministers also directed ASEAN senior officials to
formulate a regionwide transport blueprint for the 1999-2004
period, incorporating plans to liberalize air freight services
and develop a cruise industry.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

At the end of their two-day meeting Thursday, the ministers
signed the "agreement on the recognition of commercial vehicle
inspection certificates of goods vehicles and public services
vehicles issued by ASEAN member countries."

Mah, who chaired the talks, said that with the agreement, to
be implemented by the end of the year, the nine ASEAN member
economies would recognize one another's commercial vehicle
inspection certificates.

Before this, each economy reserved the right to inspect
foreign-registered vehicles for smoke emission and other aspects
of road worthiness, officials said.

Under the new procedures, operators of lorries and other goods
vehicles as well as public buses from ASEAN countries would no
longer be required to send their vehicles for inspection checks
before they entered another member country.

"We are going to save time and money," deputy Malaysian
transport minister Mohamed Ali Rustam said.

Indonesian Communications Minister Giri Suseno Hadihardjono
said there were no immediate plans to extend the agreement to
passenger cars and motorcycles as some member-nations did not
conduct regular checks on private vehicles.

The ministers also endorsed the "ASEAN framework agreement on
the facilitation of goods in transit" which will be signed at the
sixth ASEAN summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 15-16.

The key objective of the pact was to facilitate the movement
of goods in transit among ASEAN countries, including the
simplification of all transit transport procedures and
requirements, and minimizing of unnecessary delays or
restrictions, the ministers said.

Mah said that the ministers held a "brainstorming" session
Thursday on the ASEAN Plan of Action in Transport blueprint
targeted for completion in August 1999.

The plan would consider, among others, the detailed study for
liberalizing air freight services in ASEAN, cooperation in
maritime training, strengthening port cooperation and sustainable
urban transport development and road safety.