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.