Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung (sixth from left) and ASEAN transport ministers pose for a photo at the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The 25th ASEAN TransportMinisters’ Meeting (ATM) and associated meetings with dialogue partners kickedoff in Hanoi on November 14, attracting about 250 Vietnamese and foreigndelegates.
Opening the event, Deputy Prime Minister TrinhDinh Dung said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has becomeone of the most successful regional organisations in the world. With a combinedpopulation of over 640 million and an economy worth nearly 3 trillion USD in2018, ASEAN is currently the third biggest economy in Asia and the sixthlargest in the world.
Its member countries are striving to build theASEAN Economic Community. In that process, the bloc always considersconnectivity and integration as part of the top priorities in building thecommunity so as to capitalise on the advantages of a dynamic and potentialregion. To achieve this, enhancing transport connectivity is of criticalimportance, he noted.
He said Vietnam, with a favourable location ontransport routes linking Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and other regions inthe Asia-Pacific, has been working hard to develop transport infrastructure,which has given a facelift to the country and enhanced connectivity among itsregions as well as between Vietnam and the world.
The Deputy PM added that in 2020, Vietnam willmark 25 years of its ASEAN membership and hold the bloc’s chairmanship. As theASEAN Chair, it pledges to continue making substantive contributions to thebuilding and development of a cohesive and responsive ASEAN Community towardsan ASEAN of peace, stability and prosperity.
According to the Vietnamese Ministry ofTransport, this year’s ATM and associated meetings, scheduled to last throughNovember 15, will focus on the completion of procedures for signinggovernmental-level multilateral documents to strengthen transport connectivityin ASEAN and between ASEAN and the partner countries of Japan, the Republic ofKorea and China.
They will listen to reports on theimplementation of programmes and projects within the framework of the KualaLumpur Transport Strategic Plan for 2016-2025. They will also approve projects,plans and programmes on ASEAN transport cooperation for 2020.
Besides, the member countries will discuss waysto bolster transport links, especially in aviation, with dialogue partners,namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the European Union and the US-ASEANBusiness Council.
Earlier, the 48th Senior Transport Officials’Meeting and related meetings took place in Hanoi from November 11 to 13./.
VNA
