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Other than the present air connectivity among ASEAN countries, Malaysia will also focus on railway connectivity for leisure travel, goods and services.
Transport Minister YB Anthony Loke shared that the vision is to offer rail connectivity from Peninsula Malaysia to Thailand, Laos and China (Kunming).
“This is our long term vision. We can realise the Pan Asia railway network to Kunming which can eventually connect to Europe.
“We hope to close the missing links and make a lot of progress in railways through regulation like customs clearance to allow goods to be transported to Thailand, Laos and China. We can have a seamless journey once this is achieved”, he added.He was speaking at a press conference at the 57th Senior Transport Officials (STOM) currently being held in Penang.
Representatives and delegates from ASEAN member states along with ASEAN Dialogue Partners namely from the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK) and United States (US) were in attendance.
The venue for their session is at the newly opened Penang Marriott Hotel along Gurney Drive.
The gathering is chaired by the Secretary General of MOT, Dato Jana Santhiran Muniayan.
Malaysia is promoting four main focuses namely, artificial intelligence, shared mobility sector, cross border facilitation and sustainable transport.
Loke also added that better air connectivity between member states in ASEAN has helped boost tourism in the region.
“Our focus is the air, maritime and land connectivity in line with ASEAN open skies policy as it opens up the tourism industry with direct flights with each other. We hope to see more integration in the years to come”, said Loke.