On opening the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasized that transport plays an important role in each country’s socioeconomic development as well as the prosperity of the region.

Interconnectivity in terms of transport is an indispensable factor to put the plan of an ASEAN community into practice in 2015 and is imperative for the region’s recovery from the global economic downturn, he said.

The PM also called for greater effort from ASEAN countries in cooperating to promote the creation of transport corridors among member countries. He said it is now time to get rid of bottlenecks and traffic jams as well as complicated administrative procedures. Each country should work out the most appropriate way to effectively provide solutions in this field.

Also at the meeting, the Vietnamese PM informed the participants of Vietnam’s achievements in recent years in developing infrastructure and other priorities for transport. He affirmed Vietnam will take the initiative and be responsible for building a powerful ASEAN community.

The two-day meeting will discuss cooperation programmes and plans in the field of air, sea and land transport services, liberalise and open the market for such services, creating good conditions for overland border crossing and transit between ASEAN countries and between them and their partner countries.

The ASEAN transport ministers will also discuss the overall plan for setting up an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.