Agency

Bhutan

(a) Expert group meeting on intraregional container shipping held at Bangkok in July 1997. Intraregional container shipping study published;

(b) A follow-up project proposal on regional maritime strategy development being formulated to evaluate the impact of the Asian economic crisis and subsequent recovery on shipping and port development;

(c) Advisory services provided to the Philippine Port Authority on tariff revisions and application of the ESCAP model port tariff structure;

(d) Point-to-point rail traffic costing model produced. Software and user manual developed;

(e) Two project proposals formulated as part of the BIMST-EC study;

(f) Country-level workshops on financial/economic appraisal of inland water transport projects held in Kathmandu, Kunming and Hanoi in January 1997, November 1997 and March 1998 respectively;

(g) Upgrading financial economic planning model for IWT to be completed in 1999. Advisory services tentatively planned for the IWT sector to India, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand;

(h) Included in programme of work, 2000-2001: 6-2-311 and 6-4-206;

(a) Training-of-trainers manual for IWT produced;

(b) Survey on the role of inland waterways within an integrated transport system completed. A publication is being prepared;

(c) Regional policy-level seminar on sustainable development of IWT held at Nanjing, China, September 1998;

(d) International conference/exhibition on IWT and dredging to be organized in Bangkok;

(e) Included in programme of work, 2000-2001: 6-2-205.

Hong Kong,

China

(a) APT study group considered and published a guide to a scheme for developing regional cooperation and teamwork in standardization;

Hong Kong, China; Pakistan; Republic of Korea

2. Policy planning, and administrative, legislative and regulatory measures

(a) Capacity-building seminar on integrated planning and sustainable transport development held at Bangkok in June 1997;

(b) Country-level seminar and training-of-trainers on the development and dissemination of a comprehensive and integrated approach to policy development in the field of transport and traffic, held in Bangkok and The Hague in April 1998 and May 1998 respectively;

(c) Country-level capacity-building seminar on the integrated approach to transport planning held for Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) pilot project team in December 1998;

(d) ESCAP assisting BMA in implementing a pilot project in the Rattanakosin area of Bangkok by providing advisory services;

(e) Contact established with Nepal and Viet Nam for organizing national workshops on the integrated approach in 2000 and the potential for launching similar pilot projects;

(f) Guidelines on dissemination of the integrated approach to policy development in the field of traffic and transport being prepared;

Bhutan; Thailand

Cambodia;

Vanuatu

Cambodia; Kyrgyzstan;

Russian Federation;

(a) National pilot project executed by UNCTAD in Thailand 1997/98. Follow-up project implementation in Indonesia implemented in 1999;

3. Development of interregional and intraregional transport linkages

Cambodia; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Islamic Republic of Iran; Mongolia; Myanmar; Republic of Korea;

(b) Study on road network connecting China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russian Federation and Korean peninsula being undertaken;

(c) Project on promotion, development and formalization of AH (phase I) completed; project proposal for phase II being formulated;

(d) Southern corridor study of TAR completed and considered by an expert group meeting at Dhaka in May 1999;

(e) Study on the container transport demonstration project in the northern corridor of TAR (phase I) being undertaken;

(f) Study on land transport corridor between Central Asia and Europe published;

(g) Identification of AH routes in Turkey completed;

(h) AH database established for ASEAN and SAARC countries;

(i) Strategy and guidelines for upgrading AH routes completed;

(j) Project proposal on ALTID project in Central Asian subregion, which consists of three sub-projects formulated as part of SPECA;

18. Harmonization of requirements concerning international inland water transport and facilitation of its operation

(a) Project on harmonization of the navigation aids system along the Mekong River to be undertaken in collaboration with the Mekong River Commission;

(b) Study on promotion of international transport along inland waterways to be undertaken;

1.4 Subregional cooperation in

Hong Kong, China;

Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Kyrgyzstan;

Hong Kong, China;

(a) Project on promotion of foreign investment in tourism being implemented in Pakistan, Republic of Korea and Uzbekistan;

(b) Project on promotion of regional cooperation in tourism development and training being implemented;

(c) Three meetings of the working group on the Greater Mekong subregion tourism sector held in Ho Chi Minh City, October 1997; Kunming, November 1998; Yangon, May 1999;

(d) Study on Mekong/Lancang River tourism planning and study on facilitation of travel to and within the Greater Mekong subregion published;

(e) Activities to promote cooperation among tourism education and training institutions being implemented through the Network of Asia-Pacific Education and Training Institutes in Tourism established by ESCAP in 1997;

(f) Advisory services provided to the Government of Bangladesh on an exclusive tourism zone in March 1999;

(g) Seminar on facilitation of travel in the Asian region held at Phuket in March 1998;

(h) A study on expansion of tourism in the Greater Mekong subregion through improved air transport being prepared. A seminar on the subject organized in July 1999;

(i) A study on promotion of tourism along the Asian Highway being prepared;

(j) Several activities planned in 2000-2001 to promote tourism investment and enhance regional cooperation.

1. Assistance with downsizing/ restructuring of telecommunications sector entities

2. Management, maintenance and modernization of infrastructure facilities and services

(a) ESCAP/World Bank regional seminar on management and financing of road maintenance held at Bangkok in September 1996;

(b) Within the framework of ESCAP/World Bank road maintenance and financing initiatives, a country-level seminar held at Delhi in May 1998, and ESCAP/World Bank joint workshops on private sector participation in road management and financing held at Dhaka in November 1998 (which Turkey and Sri Lanka attended as observers), and at Colombo in June 1999 (which Viet Nam attended as an observer);

(c) ESCAP/World Bank/ADB workshop on road management and finance for Papua New Guinea held in February 2000;

(a) Guidelines for private sector participation in ports published and country-level seminars organized in Bangkok, Chittagong and Tehran. Advisory services provided to Bangladesh on improving administration, management and operations of Chittagong port. Activities implemented by ESCAP;

(b) Publication of Guidelines for Port Authorities and Governments on the privatization of port facilities (UNCTAD/SDTE/TIB/1), September 1998;

(a) Under the project on transport pricing and charges funded by the Government of the Netherlands, activities have commenced;

(b) A review of infrastructure pricing being prepared and expected to be published in this biennium;

(c) A comparative analysis of port pricing in the region has been initiated in collaboration with the Korea Maritime Institute;

(d) Included in programme of work, 2000-2001: 6-2-311;

Indonesia; Islamic Republic of Iran; Kyrgyzstan; Republic of

Korea; Russian

Federation;

Bhutan; China; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Islamic Republic of Iran; Kyrgyzstan; Mongolia; Myanmar; Philippines; Republic of Korea; Russian Federation;

Bhutan;

Hong Kong, China; Indonesia;

Republic of Korea;

(a) Country-level seminars on railway marketing techniques and practices held in Tashkent and Dhaka in November 1997;

(b) Project proposal on introduction of railway marketing practices in the region being formulated;

(c) Fund secured to undertake the ESCAP/ECE BOT joint advisory service mission to Bangladesh in October 1999. Follow-up mission to present the "negotiation platform" tailored to the needs of Bangladesh, February 2000;

India; Mongolia;

Myanmar; Sri Lanka;

ITU/

(a) Guidelines for private sector participation in ports published;

(b) APT handbook on competitive activities published in 1997.

Guidelines available to ESCAP member countries through other United Nations agencies and published since the adoption of the New Delhi Action Plan:

In 1996, UNIDO published Guidelines for Infrastructure Development through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Projects.

The UNCITRAL secretariat was mandated by the General Assembly, in resolution 51/161 of 16 December 1996, to undertake a review of BOT arrangements in cooperation with other international organizations. UNCITRAL now in the process of developing a legislative guide on privately financed infrastructure projects.

(a) To establish quality standards and monitoring systems at least for priority and airmail items/parcels; end-to-end quality service monitoring tests of EMS between major cities conducted by APPU since 1997. A total of 138 links tested in 1999; seven consultancy missions undertaken since 1998 to help member countries to upgrade delivery standards, both domestically and internationally; a course given at the Asian Pacific Training Centre on current postal technologies for priority mail; seven fellowships granted; a programme for quality control service as part of the functions of the international postal system developed with financial support from the Postal Administration of Japan and to be operational after validation;

(a) Assistance provided to ASEAN in the formulation of a subregional framework agreement on multimodal transport;

(b) ECO/IDB/ESCAP/UNCTAD joint project proposal on international multimodal transport operation in ECO subregion formulated; funds being sought from IDB;

(c) Project on promotion of multimodal transport practices among BIMST-EC member countries funded for implementation in the first half of 2000;

(a) Series of five seminars delivered in selected Pacific island countries to upgrade skills in the freight-forwarding industry;

(b) Project on development of freight forwarding and multimodal transport for the Greater Mekong subregion being implemented to include subregional and country-level seminars;

(a) Subregional seminar on implications/benefits of accession to international conventions on land transport facilitation for SAARC countries held in Dhaka from 9 to 11 December 1997;

(b) National workshops on land facilitation organized in five countries of the Greater Mekong subregion: Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, with financial support from ADB in the biennium 1998-1999;

(c) National workshop for China held in July 1999 with financial support from ADB;

(d) As part of the project proposal for ECO subregion formulated for possible funding from IDB (see also project No. 31 on promotion of multimodal transport), eight country-level workshops are to be held to provide training on land transport conventions;

(e) A national workshop on international conventions on land transport facilitation held in India, May 1999; another country-level workshop to be conducted in Bangladesh;

(a) Country-level seminars held in Myanmar and Viet Nam in March 1997;

(b) Evaluation missions, including advisory services, undertaken to Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea and Thailand;

1. Promotion of environmentally

(a) Study on road transport and protection of the environment published;

(b) Policy-level expert group meeting held in Bangkok in May 1997;

(c) A review of the status of environmental/social impact assessment of road infrastructure projects in ESCAP region completed; an ex post evaluation of the EIA process in completed road projects being undertaken; based on the review and ex post evaluation, practical guidelines on EIA to be published in biennium 2000-2001;

(a) Project on strengthening national capability and promotion of regional cooperation in sustainable tourism development being implemented;

(b) National seminar on sustainable tourism development held in Ulaanbaatar in October 1997;

(c) Seminar on developing ecotourism in the Asian region held at Bangkok in November 1998;

(e) Guidelines on integrated planning for sustainable tourism development being prepared;

Islamic Republic of Iran

Hong Kong, China; Republic of Korea;

Republic of Korea;

(a) Asia-Pacific road accident statistics and road safety inventory published;

(b) Working group meeting on preparation of a draft database format held in November 1998;

(c) Development of software for road safety database in progress;

(d) Expert group meeting on the establishment of a regional road safety database planned for August 2000. Format will be evaluated against availability of data and special requirements of each country, and adjusted accordingly if necessary. Electronic copies of the database structure/ format to be distributed at the meeting;

(a) Establishment of national and regional systems for inland transportation of dangerous goods published in 1997;

(b) Project on transportation of dangerous goods focusing on SAARC countries approved for India funding and to be organized in 2000;

(a) Four subregional projects on cooperative development of operational safety and continuing airworthiness in (i) South Pacific, (ii) South Asia, (iii) South-East Asia and (iv) North Asia formulated;

(b) South Asia project commenced implementation in February 1998. Initial survey of participating States conducted in March/April 1998; fourth meeting of Project Steering Committee held, 1 and 2 June 1999; project budget estimates for the four-year operation updated (US$1,678,450); the Project Steering Committee agreed on expansion of the scope of the project for inclusion of CNS/ATM in the project; general flight operation inspector manual produced and distributed to member States; completed the development of basic flight operations inspector programme and audit procedures programme; conducted training programmes on basic flight operations inspector, advanced flight operations inspector, cabin safety inspection, dangerous goods, CAT II/III workshops, basic audit, reliability monitoring, and modifications, repair and leasing (18 courses and 563 participants from seven South Asian member States); provided on-the-job training (basic inspectors, audits and technical assistants) in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka (55 days, 52 participants), and accident investigation check ride in Nepal (7 days);

(c) South-East Asia project endorsed by ASEAN fifth Senior Transport Officials Meeting held in Singapore, 30 and 31 March 1998. Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Viet Nam and Thailand reconfirmed their support for the project. All these States, except Lao People’s Democratic Republic, have also confirmed small funding contributions for the project. Additional funds being sought;

(a) Institutions to be included in the network being identified;

(b) Memorandum of Understanding signed between ESCAP and Asian Institute of Transport Development and Korea Maritime Institute for cooperation in various works in the area of transport. ESCAP also in close cooperation with the Maritime Institute of Malaysia;

(c) Project on maritime manpower planning, training, utilization and networking of centres of excellence being implemented;

1. Training programme for public maritime labour inspectors on the inspection of working and living conditions on board ship

(a) APT Standardization Programme Forum held at Singapore, 23-25 June 1999;

(b) ITU Study Group I on Telecommunication Development, Strategies and Policies and Study Group II on Development, Harmonization, Management and Maintenance of Telecommunication Networks and Service currently in session;

(a) Pilot project on participatory planning of rural infrastructure being implemented in Oudomxai Province of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in collaboration with APT, ICAO, ILO, IMO, ITU, UNCTAD, UPU and the World Bank; training workshop on rural credit and saving scheme held in February 1998;

(b) Transport and communications intervention in the alleviation of poverty published;

(c) Regional seminar-cum-cluster country meeting on participatory planning of rural infrastructure held in New Delhi in May 1998;

(d) ILO local-level planning programmes operational in Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic and completed in Indonesia and the Philippines. The local-level participatory planning initiatives now an integral part of the development process and the prerequisite to prioritization of development needs. The next step is development of local infrastructure after analysis of accessibility difficulties. Labour-based technology to be promoted;

(e) Guidelines developed on participatory planning of rural infrastructure development;

(f) Advisory services provided to the Government of Pakistan on participatory planning of rural infrastructure in August 1998; follow-up workshop held in Karachi in August 1998;

(g) "Best practice studies" on interventions in the transport and communications sectors directed towards poverty alleviation, including: (i) Agha Khan rural support programme in Pakistan; (ii) Dhading development project in Nepal; (iii) rural roads and markets improvement and maintenance project in Bangladesh; (iv) medium-term development strategy in the Philippines; and (v) least-developed villages scheme;

(h) Training of trainers manual completed;

(a) Pilot project on integration of non-motorized transport into the urban transport system of Dhaka being implemented;

(b) Study tour on integration of non-motorized transport into urban transport system in Shanghai held for representatives in June 1998;

A "best practice study" focusing on the experience of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh completed; THAI-UNCAP launched to reduce poverty and social/economic/gender disparity, especially in rural areas; financial resources secured for UPU to participate in THAI-UNCAP and joint project with the Communication Authority of Thailand designed, under which two Thai officials completed the study of Japan’s rural postal system. A consultancy mission in customer satisfaction indicator in process. Final report expected to be completed by the end of 1999.