Bandar Seri Begawan, 15 November 2005 - Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Haji Yusoff Haji Abu Hamid, Deputy Minister of Communications, left today for Vientiane, Lao PDR to attend the 11^th ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting due to be held on 17-18 November 2005.

The ASEAN Transport Ministers will be deliberating on the implementation progress of the transport initiatives under the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) 2004-2010 and policy measures to accelerate integration of the transport sector and promote transport security. The development of these initiatives is vital towards the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), among others by taking into account of ASEAN Free Trade Area and various Framework Arrangements within the region and transportation issues as a critical supporting sector for seamless movement of people and goods.

Finalization of various transport policy documents covering air, land and maritime sectors including transport facilitation and cooperation agreements and their related protocols would also be the top agenda of the ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting. Yet another topic of importance is the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport which lays down rules and procedures relating to the carriage of goods by ASEAN multimodal transport operators.

With the back to back arrangement, ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting will also discuss with ASEAN dialogue partners on the status on the relevant ASEAN-China transport initiatives, projects and activities implemented and the developments of joint projects under the ASEAN-Japan Transport Partnership.

The ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting will be preceded by the 20^th Senior Transport Officials Meeting from 14^th to 16^th November 2005. The Brunei Darussalam’s delegation also comprises of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Hj Md Yusof bin Hj Md Hassan as well as senior officials from the Ministry of Communications and relevant departments under the Ministry.