MONGOLIAN CITIES BECOME INTERNATIONAL DRY PORTS

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolian cities of Zamyn-Uud, Sainshand, Ulaanbaatar and Altanbulag have become international dry ports. These cities have been considered as such after Mongolia’s joining the Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports that aims to provide connectivity and integration of the Asian Highway and the Trans-Asian Railway networks, creating an international integrated inter modal transport and logistics system. Representing the Government of Mongolia, the Road and Transport Minister A.Gansukh has signed the agreement during his participation in the Second session of the Forum of Asian Ministers of Transport which ran in Bangkok November 4-8. This was established as a regional mechanism to facilitate greater cooperation amongst transport policy-makers in Asia. At the forum, Asian Ministers discuss regional transport issues that include transport networks, transport facilitation and logistics, financing options for regional infrastructure development, and sustainable and inclusive transport. So far fourteen member-countries–Armenia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand and Vietnam--have signed the Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports, in recognition of the crucial role played by the transport sector in the economic and social development of the region. Dry ports will play an important role in integrating modes of transport, reducing border crossing and transit delays, facilitating the use of energy-efficient and lower emission means of transport, and creating new clusters of economic growth and job creation in local areas.