Published in ASEAN News on 29.10.2019

ASEAN News: ASEAN & EU discuss intelligent transport systems

The EU-ASEAN Workshop on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) took place in Singapore on 24-25 October, hosted by the Ministry of Transport and Land Transport Authority of Singapore.

The event was jointly opened by Mr. Henrik Hololei, Director-General for European Commission Directorate General for Mobility and Transport and Mr. Yap Ong Heng, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Transport of Singapore while Secretary-General of International Transport Forum Young Tae Kim delivered a key note speech.

Representatives from ASEAN and EU Member States, ASEAN Secretariat, ITS experts and practitioners from Europe and ASEAN regions, research organisations, as well as the private sector through representatives of business councils attended the workshop.

This was the first workshop on digital and intelligent transport organised between the EU and ASEAN, with aimed to exchange knowledge between the two regions on ITS and discuss challenges and opportunities for ITS development in ASEAN.

During the workshop, participants shared experiences as well as exchanged best practices in implementing intelligent transport solutions. They touched on the importance of data collection and sharing in support of the ITS services as well as the inter-agency coordination and regional cooperation, to develop ITS solutions for transport users that meet the demand of cities and society.

The preliminary discussion emphasised the challenges and experiences of each respective AMS, and allowed participants to identify key elements that should be considered in a study on the development and implementation of ITS policy and framework in ASEAN.

The co-chairs affirmed that the workshop was a great opportunity for sharing knowledge and experience between the EU and ASEAN as well as exploring opportunities and challenges of the implementation of solutions that will make intelligent transport in ASEAN a reality.

Both the EU and ASEAN recognise ITS as an important element in the establishment of future modes of transport and mobility, and see it as a requirement to solve road safety, emission and congestion problems. The workshop also included exhibition visits to the ITS World Congress 2019, including to the ASEAN Pavilion where participants were introduced to leading technologies and innovations in ITS.

The workshop was supported by the Enhanced Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument (E-READI), a development cooperation programme that facilitates cooperation between the EU and ASEAN in priority policy areas of joint interest. Drawing on relevant EU regional integration experience, the E-READI policy dialogue facility further strengthens both regional integration in ASEAN as well as the overall ASEAN-EU partnership.

Source: asean.org/asean-eu-discuss-intelligent-transport-systems