'Iron Silk Road'Pact Ushers in
New Era for Cooperation

Int'l Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway Network to be signed during MCT 2006

Asian transport ministers will get together in Busan on November 10th to sign the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) Network, bringing a step closer to realization of the dream of connecting their capital cities, ports and industrial centers.
The signing ceremony for inking the treaty on TAR will highlight the UNESCAP Ministerial Conference on Transport 2006 (MCT 2006) scheduled for November 6-11 at BEXCO in Busan.
Transport ministers in Asia and the Pacific will attend the two-day Ministerial Meeting scheduled for November 10-11 to discuss vision and strategies for the development and infrastructure construction in the area of transportation and logistics in the Asia-Pacific region for the next five years, various social and environmental issues, as well as high technologies.
Participants of MCT 2006 include Korean Minister of Construction and Transportation Choo Byung-jik; UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-su; Clifford C. Eby, deputy administrator of the U.S.
Federal Railroad Administration; Ralf Baron, director of Travel & Transportation Group of Central Europe at A.D. Little; Thomas Richardson, managing director for Asia & Australasia at Alstom; Shigetaro Yamanoto, vice minister for international affairs at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Japan, Lim Hwee-hua, minister of state at the Ministry of Transport, Singapore; Juergen Soregenfrei, chairman of Port of Hamburg Marketing; and Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways. Also present are ex-South Korean president Kim Dae-joong, Liqun Jin, vice president and chairperson of the board of directors at Asian Development Bank; James Mak, vice president of J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia-Pacific); John William Walker, executive director of Macquarie Bank Limited; Gazal Dominique, vice president of development Asia-Pacific at Bouygues Travaux Publics; Scott Price, chief executive officer of DHL Express Asia Pacific; Gary Adams, vice president of international logistics at Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc., Michel Deleuran, chief executive of Maersk, North East Asia; and Kang Joo-an, president-COO of Asiana Airlines.
UNESCAP Ministerial Conference on Transport MCT in Asia and the Pacific has been held every five years since the 1996 Conference held in New Delhi. The gathering of minister ministers has been an important conference for the assessment of the state of transportation, formulation of actions in response to imperatives posed by important global forums, and for the synthesis of regional perspectives, priorities and forward-looking agendas.
MCT 2006, organized by the Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT) (Minister Choo Byung-jik) and Ministry of Marine Affairs & Fisheries (MOMAF) (Minister Kim Sung-jin), will kick off officially during an opening ceremony, to be held on November 6. The opening session will be followed by Senior Officials'Meetings, to be held on November 6-8.
The two main side events of MCT 2006 will be the Asia-Pacific Business Forum 2006 on Transport and Logistics, scheduled for November 8-9, and International Transport & Logistics Fair 2006.
The Business Forum will offer an excellent opportunity for participants to learn about future trends of transport & logistics industry, to facilitate networking opportunities, and to meet with the finest companies and governments. "The forum will feature excellent and dynamic programs ― the Transport Financing Innovation Session, Logistics Innovation Session, and Special Session: East Asia, the Logistics Hub, bring together top CEOs and VIPs in the world of related business, organizers said.
More than 140 exhibitors from many different countries are expected to partake in International Transport & Logistics Fair 2006, to be held on November 7 to 11. The fair, to be held in cooperation with UNESCAP, will be the leading trade fair for railways, port & shipbuilding, logistics, and transportation & ITS. Exhibitors will have the opportunity to showcase their products during the fair in a special and unique environment.
The fair will be divided into five categories ― Railway Zone, Port & Shipbuilding Zone, Automobile & ITS Zone, Aviation Zone and Road Traffic & Infra Zone. Railways vehicles for passengers and freight transport, high-speed railway technology, light-rail transit, components & assemblies, railways IT, and etc. will be on display at the Railways Zone, while the Port & Shipbuilding Zone will cover port facilities & management, port/sailing/ communication system, shipbuilding equipment, engines, and etc. The Logistics Zone will display logistics automation systems, equipment, storage, loading & up-loading systems, RFID, and other products, while the Automobile & ITS Zone will have a concept car, inspection machine, intelligent transport system, satellite DMB, navigation systems, and etc. The Aviation Zone will cover airlines, aviation facility & management, aviation solution, and so on, while the Road Traffic & Infra Zone will display road construction & material, safety equipment, traffic information service, traffic control, vehicles control & sensing systems.
The venue of MCT 2006 is Busan(Mayor Hur Nam-sik). Busan is a major access point in the TAR Network that starts on the Pacific seaboard of Asia and ends up on the doorstep of Europe. The Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement constitutes another step toward the identification of a trans-continental, integrated, international, intermodal network to facilitate international trade and tourism. A similar agreement under UNESCAP's auspices on the Asian Highway Network came into force in July 2005.
"If the Trans Korea Railway, Trans China Railway and Trans Siberia Railway are connected, it would establish a transportation system of dramatically improving transportation and logistics to Europe, and the TAR project, involving 81,000 km of railway lines that run through Asian countries and reach Europe, is a key project being undertaken by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific),"said Chang Man-shik, information and international relations office at the MOCT.
"Through these two Agreements, UNESCAP will usher in a new era of cooperation and partnership for regional integration,"said UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-su in a news release issued in Bangkok ahead of the signing.
"With 60 percent of the world's population generating 26 percent of the world's gross domestic product, Asia's demand for efficient transport is greater than at anytime in its history,"noted Mr. Kim.
UNESCAP experts believe that port efficiency can be enhanced through the integration of rail and shipping to avoid port congestion. This is particularly relevant in Asia, home to 13 of the world's top 20 container ports. It is also of crucial importance to landlocked countries whose access to world markets is heavily dependent on efficient connections to the region's main international ports. Twelve of the world's 30 landlocked countries are in Asia, and ten of them are members of the Trans-Asian Railway Network.
The TAR Network is expected to have a significant impact on the region. To date, much of the region's economic development has taken place in coastal areas. As part of the development of the TAR Network, members have already begun to identify stations of international importance that will have similar functions as ports away from coastal areas, or 'dry ports.'The development of these stations into 'dry ports'could play an important role in spreading the benefits of globalization and creating employment opportunities for local populations.
The signing ceremony for the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network will mark the achievement of a negotiation process initiated by UNESCAP in 2004. The Agreement was finalized in November 2005, and adopted by its members at the Commission's annual legislative session held in Jakarta, Indonesia in April 2006.
The member countries of the TAR Network are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. nw

MOCT Minister Choo Byung-jik

MOMAF Minister Kim Sung-jin

UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-su

Busan Mayor Hur Nam-sik