Launch of EU-Switch-Asia Project -- “Sustainable Freight Transport and Logistics in the Mekong Region”
June 8, 2016
Mekong Institute (MI) signed the Partnership Agreement between MI-GIZ and GMS-FRETA for the EU-Switch-Asia Project implementation on June 2nd, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, and entered into a grant contract for implementing the project on “Sustainable Freight Transport and Logistics in the Mekong Region”.
Funded by European Commission (EC), the Partnership Agreement is to fulfill the agreed tasks allocated to each of the contracting members in accordance with the terms and conditions under the application approved by the EC.
The project aims to increase sustainable freight transport and logistics for at least 500 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand (CLMVT). The project will support four main areas:
1) “Fuel efficiency”: Implement measures to increase fuel efficiency to 500 micro and small freight and logistics companies
2)”Safety of Dangerous Goods (DG) transport”: Introduce guidelines for dangerous goods transport to administrative bodies and companies. Facilitate cross-border agreements and train on safety of DG transport.
3)“Access to Finance”: Support green loan initiatives and develop investment plans for Work Package (WP)
4)“Awareness & Policy Actions”: Support awareness and policy actions (e.g. labelling, regulations, incentives, modal shift)
On behalf of MI, Mr. Madhurjya Kumar Dutta, Director of Trade and Investment Facilitation Department, signed the agreement at the regional workshop on “Green Freight and Logistics in Southeast Asia” held on June 2-3, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand and shared MI’s experiences on capacity building activities to enhance logistics and transportation development in CLMVT and logistics business database for business networking and expansion. Over 76 delegates from Southeast Asia and GMS countries including MI representatives attended the workshop jointly organized by GIZ and ADB. The regional workshop highlighted the efforts promoting green freight and logistics and offered an interactive platform for the representatives to learn and share experiences in developing green freight and logistics toward sustainability in Southeast Asia and other parts of the word.