Opening Address by His Excellency Mr. Jullapong Nonsrichai, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the Workshop on Cross-border Management: A Key to Efficient ASEAN Connectivity, Bangkok, 13-14 June 2012
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor for me to be here today amongst this gathering of policymakers and players in cross-border management. As all of you may already know, ASEAN is on track to becoming a community in the year 2015. To that end, ASEAN has been actively pursuing the agenda of fostering closer connectivity, realizing that it is an accelerator for community building.
The concept of ASEAN Connectivity was first proposed in 2009 at the 15th ASEAN Summit in Thailand. Later, the Master Plan on Connectivity, laying the plans for physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity, was adopted by ASEAN leaders at the 17th Summit in Viet Nam. Since then, there has been tremendous interest for connectivity projects in ASEAN.
Distinguished participants,
Most of us are witnessing the development of many economic corridors and roads links, such as the East-West, North-South, and Southern Economic Corridors, as well as the upcoming Dawei Deep Sea Port. However, a lot remains to be done, in terms of the movements of goods, people, and services across the region. We now need to discuss ways and means to remove any impediments to ensure that facilities at the border can support efficient processing of such movements, so that our peoples can fully benefit from these links.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Recognizing the need for the full potential of enhanced connectivity, Prime Minister Yingluck has noted at the recent World Economic Forum that, in addition to investment in physical infrastructure, it is also equally important to ensure that goods and people can move freely across borders. Therefore, harmonized laws and regulations are imperative for this to happen.
Enhanced mobility of goods, people, and services will help improve economic productivity and livelihood of those at the border and along the routes, which will eventually contribute to a more equitable ASEAN. It is also important that we seek useful ideas and practical suggestions from the local business people along the economic routes.
With this in mind, Thailand is pleased to host this “Workshop on Cross-border Management: A Key to Efficient Connectivity”. For the next two days, our aim is to gather participants who are truly involved in cross-border issues, both from public agencies who are tasked to manage the issue, or from the private sector who are end users, and as well as development partners who have supported ASEAN’s community building efforts throughout the years.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
We need to act now, to ensure that cross-border management in ASEAN is ready to face the challenges of increased mobility in the coming years. Through this Workshop, I believe that our exchange of information, ideas, and recommendations will be the important inputs for the efficient cross-border management and help make ASEAN a better connected community.
I wish you much success in your deliberations.
Thank you.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th