Viet Nam, 18-22 February 2019

Introduction

In close cooperation with the Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport (HCMC-UT) and the Ministry of Transport in Viet Nam, ARISE Plus held a series of highly successful workshops and meetings from 18-22 February 2019 to support implementation of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Mufti-Modal Transport (AFAMT).

Context and Rationale

The gains from reform in multi-modal transport are potentially significant. Recent studies estimate that ASEAN would increase exports by around 4%, or between 2% to 6% per member economy if efficient multi-modal transport is implemented in the region.  In $USD terms this equates to an impact gain of $500bn or between $850 million and $115bn per member economy.

Previously, ARISE developed a draft Implementation Framework for AFAMT, and provided advice to the AMS on their development of national Working (Action) Plans for the implementation of AFAMT. Support is being provided by AISE Plus to implement the agreement.  This includes development of a capacity building ‘Going Multimodal’ Programme with three components: technical assistance, international standards and knowledge exchange.

Results

• Workshop 1 (2 days) entitled ‘Building Governmental Multimodal Capacity’, targeted at government officials, provided professional capacity building on multimodal transport operations.
• Workshop 2 (1 day) consisted of a joint Government and private sector workshop focused on how to better engage with industry on the implementation and operationalisation of AFAMT, with the assistance of the ASEAN Federation of Forwarders Associations (AFFA) to launch the ‘Going Multimodal’ program.
• Workshop 3 (2 days) entitled ‘Meeting on AFAMT’ was designed to gather inputs from the private sector in developing the Implementation Framework for AFAMT and for private sector to discuss with Government officials the best techniques for supporting the development of Implementation Framework for AFAMT. The last day of this workshop acted as a facilitative workshop for ASEAN Member State Government officials to assist them in refining their AFAMT operationalisation roadmaps into their Working Plans. The outcomes of the ARISE Plus in-country missions as well as the revised draft Implementation Framework for AFAMT and its Action Plan were presented during this Meeting to highlight common challenges faced across ASEAN.
• The HCMC University of Transport reported on the event as below:
  https://ut.edu.vn/en/news-event/ho-chi-minh-city-university-of-transport-honorably-hosted-the-international-workshop-capacity-building-on-multimodal-transport-and-meeting-on-afamt-224.html
• The events were also reported in the national newspapers of Viet Nam.