Thus, when the Fifth ASEAN Summit adopted the Agenda for Greater Economic Integration in Transport and Communications, the Leaders directed the completion of the implementation of the ASEAN Plan of Action in Transport and Communications for 1994-1996. The Fifth Summit also considered the development of an Open Sky Policy in ASEAN. The Leaders further discussed the establishment of an electric train running from Singapore through Malaysia, Thailand to Kunming, Yunnan, the southern province of China.

The First ASEAN Transport Ministers (ATM) was held in Bali in March 1996. The Ministers signed a Ministerial Understanding establishing a cooperation mechanism for the transport sector and institutionalized the ASEAN Senior Transport Officials Meeting (STOM). The Ministers revised the implementation of the timeframe of the ASEAN Plan of Action in Transport and Communications from 1994-1996 to 1996-1998. Seven Working Groups were further established to formulate detailed work programmes for the theme issues of the Plan of Action in Table 9.

A review and assessment of the sixty-six transport projects and activities under the defunct Committee on Transport and Communications (COTAC) was undertaken by the COTAC Project Review Meeting in February 1997 in Chiang Mai. Its proposed list of twenty-five projects for implementation with the Plan of Action was endorsed and now forms part of the Integrated Implementation Programme of the Plan of Action as endorsed by the Third STOM and adopted by the Second ATM.

A Special Working Group on the Singapore to Kunming Railway Link Project will be looking into the economic and technical issues as well as the implementation related aspects for the realization of this project. Malaysia which has allocated RM$2 million for the feasibility study would act as the project manager for the feasibility study, with a Malaysian consortium as consultants.

In the Second ATM held in February 1997 in Chiang Mai, the Ministers adopted the Integrated Implementation Programme for the Plan of Action based on the draft of the ASEAN Secretariat. This document now serves as the single integrating document to guide cooperation in the transport sector within ASEAN, with forty-five projects and activities forming the basis for regional cooperation from 1997 onwards. A new initiative to expedite the clearance of goods in transit was agreed to in principle at the 28th AEM. The Economic Ministers agreed to refer the matter to STOM and recommended that a Joint SEOM-STOM Working Group be established to formulate the ASEAN Framework Agreement on the Facilitation of Goods in Transit. During the First Informal ASEAN Summit held in November 1996 in Jakarta, the Heads of Government of ASEAN requested the AEM to develop a possible cooperation scheme in this regard. The Joint SEOM-STOM Working Group is expected to convene in the near future, with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Thailand as host.

Other new initiatives to be considered under the purview of STOM in pursuance of the Integrated Implementation Programme include the Transboundary Shipborne Pollution (ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution) and the Cooperative Development on Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness under the ICAO Safety Oversight Programme-Southeast Asia.

During the period under review, STOM with the assistance of the ASEAN Secretariat was active in coordinating the Third ASEAN Japan Workshop-Cum-Seminar on Urban Transportation and the Human Resource Development in the Civil Aviation Sector; Establishment of a Regional Centre of Excellence for the ASEAN Railways; Establishment of a Regional Inland Waterways and Ferries Training Centre - Palembang; and the Harmonization of Maritime Instruments in Respect to Port State Control Procedures for ASEAN countries. STOM and the ASEAN Secretariat also coordinated seven project proposals from the ASEAN Ports Association (APA) listed in Table10.

The Third STOM in Chiang Mai held in February 1997 endorsed the seven APA projects for EU funding which are now with the ASEAN Cooperation Unit (ACU), for appraisal.

The Third ASEAN-Japan Workshop-Cum-Seminar on Urban Transportation, with the Ministry of Transport - Malaysia as host, was successfully conducted in November 1996 in Kuala Lumpur, with thirty-seven participants (ASEAN-twenty-five and Japan-twelve). The next seminar is scheduled to be held in Japan in 1998, with the Fukuoka Prefecture Government as host organization. The first year of the Human Resource Development in the Civil Aviation Sector which enjoys Japanese assistance (JACPP) was successfully implemented in cooperation with the Singapore Aviation Academy.

Three courses were offered from September-December 1996; viz: Sea Rescue Operation, Airport Design and Construction and Aerodome Control, with a total of twenty-nine ASEAN participants. At the Third STOM, continuation of these two projects was endorsed by the senior transport officials. The second year for the implementation of the JACPP civil aviation programme will begin in September-December 1997, with a total of 37 training slots available.

The First Meeting of the ASEAN-UNDP Dialogue held in October 1996 in Kuala Lumpur considered transport and communications as among the priority sectors, in the formulation of the ASEAN-UNDP Sub-regional Programme-Sixth Cycle (ASP-6). In this regard, the Third STOM endorsed the projects on the ASEAN Railways Centre and Port State Control, for possible funding under ASP-6. Two additional projects, Training of Trainers for Multimodal Transport Operators and the National and Regional Workshops on the Role of Transport and Communications into the 21st Century were also endorsed in May 1997, on ad referendum basis, by STOM.

In Chiang Mai, the Ministers held consultation for the first time with the Transport Ministers from the CLM countries. Both ATM and STOM welcomed the participation of CLM officials in their activities and in future meetings of STOM and the Working Groups as Observers. The Ministers also agreed to continue with the ATM-CLM consultation at the ATM meetings, to further promote cooperative programmes in the areas of transport linkages.

During the Second ATM, the Ministers viewed the transport and communications sector as a critical logistics and services support sector which should be accorded a central role in ASEAN economic cooperation programmes. They viewed that implementation of ASEAN cooperation in the facilitation of goods in transit is an initial step towards this direction. The Ministers also considered that priority attention should be given to the development of an integrated and harmonized trans-ASEAN transportation network and the harnessing of the technological advances in telecommunications and information technology, especially in linking the planned information highways/multimedia corridors in ASEAN. Finally, the Second ATM requested the ASEAN Telecommunications Regulators' Council (ATRC) composed of the ASEAN Heads /Directors-General of Telecommunications to assume the responsibility for ASEAN cooperation in telecommunications.

The views of the Second ATM now form part of the ASEAN Vision 2020 being prepared by the Economic Ministers. The draft text of the ASEAN Vision 2020 will be submitted for consideration of the Heads of Government of ASEAN during the Second Informal ASEAN Summit in December 1997.