Bangkok, Thailand
UNESCAP’s 4th session of the Committee on Transport took place from 15 to 17 October 2014 in Bangkok. All documents are available from http://www.unescap.org/official-documents/committee-on-transport/session/4. The Regional Action Plan aims to assist countries in realising the vision of a ‘sustainable international integrated intermodal transport and logistics system’ and has 10 thematic areas of work.
SLoCaT Partnership, represented by two persons from GIZ Thailand and India, participated and gave inputs to the meeting on the agenda item on ‘Promoting sustainable and inclusive transport systems’ (see ESCAP’s paper: http://www.unescap.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/pre-ods/CTR-4-5E-Promoting%20sustainable%20and%20inclusive%20transport%20systems.pdf).
SLoCaT highlighted the significance of sustainable transport for the post-2015 Development Agenda and the Results Framework, the Transport Commitments to the Climate Summit and future work on transport finance and rural transport.
Several countries also emphasized transport as being a key enabler for sustainable development and quality of life, as well as the relevance of the Open Working Group process. The importance of promoting multimodal freight and passenger transport systems was echoed, with one country aiming for ‘zero distance to transit’. There were differing views on harmonization of and collaboration on vehicle emission and fuel economy standards.
Other major topics included:
- Transport facilitation and logistics development: the way to enhance operational connectivity in the region. This informative paper makes several suggestions for how freight and logistics can be made more efficient and green: http://www.unescap.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/pre-ods/CTR-4-4E-Transport%20facilitation%20and%20logistics%20development.pdf
- Development and operation of dry ports of international importance
- Harnessing synergies between transport and ICT infrastructure, e.g. by co-deploymenthttp://www.unescap.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/pre-ods/CTR-4-2E-Harnessing%20cross-sectoral%20infrastructure%20synergies.pdf
The programme of work for 2016-2017 can be accessed here: http://www.unescap.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/pre-ods/CTR-4-6E-Draft%20programme%20of%20work%20for%202016-17.pdf
Submitted by: Stefan Bakker, GIZ ASEAN
