By Sim YH –
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, NOV 22 – The Minister of Transport and Infocommunication, His Excellency Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha has represented Brunei Darussalam to the 30th ASEAN Transport Ministers’ Meeting (ATM) and Related Meetings held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from yesterday until today.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Transport and Information Communications (MTIC), here, the 30th ATM Meeting was officiated by Deputy Prime Minister II of Malaysia, His Excellency Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah bin Yusof.
The 30th ATM Meeting and Related Meetings were chaired by the Malaysian Minister of Transport, TYT Loke Siew Fook as Chairman of the ASEAN Ministers of Transport in 2024.
The meeting confirmed documents that focus on the sustainability of the transport sector through efforts and initiatives such as decarbonisation and digitalisation.
The documents are Signing of the Protocol 5 on own stopover rights to the ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on the Full Liberalization of Passenger Air Services, ASEAN Guidelines on Light Electric Vehicles (LEV), ASEAN Guidelines on Urban Freight Transport (UFT), ASEAN Guidelines on Port Sector Public Private Partnership (PPP) and ASEAN Guidelines on Port Digitalization and Automation.
The 30th ATM meeting was followed by meetings with the ASEAN Transport Dialogue Partners namely the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea to discuss initiatives towards developing transport cooperation including confirming their respective main frameworks.
The Honorable Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary has signed Protocol 5: Own Stopover Rights between Any Points within the Territory of any other ASEAN Member State under the ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on the Full Liberalization of Passenger Air Services (MAFLPAS) on behalf of the government of Brunei Darussalam yesterday.
Protocol 5 under MAFLPAS will allow airlines from ASEAN member countries to drop off and pick up passengers between two or more places after making a stopover at another AMS for the same journey.
The protocol has the potential to widen the choice of passengers and at the same time will further increase the number of passenger movements in the ASEAN region.
Meanwhile, His Excellency Pengiran Dato held a bilateral meeting with TYT Loke Siew Fook as Chairman and Host of the ATM Meeting in 2024, to discuss ways to increase cooperation in the transport sector between the two countries, including the digitization of related transport services as well as mutual recognition of documents, which will enable more efficient cross-border movement.
Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato also held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Transport of the Republic of Singapore, TY Chee Hong Tat, to discuss opportunities and wishes to further expand cooperation in the transport sector between the two sides, especially in the field of sustainability as well as with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea, TYT Park Sangwoo where they discussed the desire for cooperation in the development of smart cities and exchanged opinions to increase cooperation in the field of smart transportation.
The 30th ATM meeting was preceded by the 58th ASEAN Senior Transport Officials’ Meeting (STOM) and a meeting with Dialogue Partners on 18 to 20 November.
Brunei Darussalam’s delegation to the 58th STOM was led by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications, Ir. Haji Mohammad Nazri bin Haji Mohammad Yusof.