By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
BORACAY — Transport officials from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member states were discussing plans to improve road safety and promote safe travel in the region in a meeting at a hotel here.
The 5th Asean Multi-sector Road Safety Working Group and 23rd Asean Land Transport Working Group Meeting is ongoing until tomorrow at the Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center in Barangay Manoc-manoc.
Representatives from Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and the host Philippines lay out action plans and road safety policies and programs for the region for the next five years.
The Asean Multi-Sector Road Safety Working Group was established to coordinate and oversee the Asean road safety strategy and regional road safety action plan with the assistance of the Asean Secretariat.
Implementation progress reports are submitted during the annual Asean Transport Ministers Meeting for further action.
In 2010, Asean adopted the Asean Strategic Transport Plan (ASTP) 2011–2015, a comprehensive planning and assessment of the current transport situation in the region.
Under ASTP, strategic actions will be carried out from 2011 to 2015 to support the Asean Economic Community by 2015 and to enhance regional connectivity in the Master Plan on Asean Connectivity.
Road safety problems Asean have reached alarming proportions, with over 75,000 deaths and 4.7 million injuries occurring annually, causing very serious physical, psychological and material harm to the victims and their families.
Because of this, Asean had huge economic losses of more than US$15 billion each year, according to ASTP.
The Philippines-hosted Asean transport meeting started on Aug. 12. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
