{"id":115910,"date":"2021-07-08T15:53:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T22:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=115910"},"modified":"2021-07-08T15:53:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T22:53:11","slug":"unescap-and-sri-lankan-authorities-held-national-consultation-workshop-on-sustainable-freight-transport-strategy-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/08\/unescap-and-sri-lankan-authorities-held-national-consultation-workshop-on-sustainable-freight-transport-strategy-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"UNESCAP and Sri Lankan Authorities held National consultation workshop on Sustainable Freight Transport strategy in Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka<\/strong> Bangkok, Thailand<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

A\nnational consultation workshop on a strategy for sustainable freight transport\nin Sri Lanka was virtually held by the United Nations Economic and Social\nCommission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Embassy and the Permanent\nMission of Sri Lanka in Bangkok and the Ministry of Transport of Sri Lanka, on\n5th<\/sup> July 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making\nopening remarks at the workshop, the Chief of the Transport Connectivity and\nLogistics Section of the Transport Division of UNESCAP, Azhar Jaimurzina\nassured that UNESCAP would render necessary technical assistance in\nimplementing the strategy for sustainable freight transport in Sri Lanka in\norder to maximize the positive externalities of freight transport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nher opening remarks, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in\nThailand C.A. Chaminda I. Colonne appreciated the efforts taken by the UNESCAP\nin conducting the assessment on sustainable freight transport in Sri Lanka and\ndeveloping the national strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary\nMonty Ranatunge of the Ministry of Transport of Sri Lanka welcomed the\ninitiative of the UNESCAP to organize the national consultation on sustainable\nfreight transport. He further appreciated the draft of the strategy prepared by\nthe UNESCAP for consultations. He concurred with strategic thrust areas\nidentified in the strategy and highlighted need for increasing the role of\nrailway transport by undertaking restructuring of railways in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUNESCAP Economic Affairs Officer Sandeep Jain elaborated on the strategy.\nExplaining on the rationale for strategy on sustainable freight transport he\nstated that it would help Sri Lanka to provide coherence to sustainable freight\ntransport measures that are currently fragmented and scattered. The strategy\nwould help implement Sri Lanka\u2019s international obligations particularly- the United\nNations Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndraft strategy has identified seven focus areas that include increasing role of\nrailway transport, improving intermodal freight transport, transforming Sri\nLanka into a global maritime hub, building resilience of transport to climate\nchange impacts, enhancing sustainability of road transport, addressing urban\nfreight transport challenges, and expanding role of women in transport sector\nin Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also identified five enablers that would\nhelp implement strategy including strengthening of governance for sustainable\nfreight transport, building capacity of transport policy makers, promoting\ntransformative transport technologies, encouraging private sector\nparticipation, and diversifying funding source for sustainable freight\ntransport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop also included\na representative from the Ministry of Oceans and Fishing of Republic of Korea who\nshared the experience of port policies and how Sri Lanka could learn from them.\nThe representatives of Asian Institute of Transport Development (AITD) also shared\ntheir views on challenges faced by Sri Lanka railways and how to boost the role\nof railway transport in Sri Lanka. The President of the Infrastructure Economic\nCentre based in Moscow explained how understanding of freight flows post\npandemic would become important component for appropriate planning and\ninvestments in transport infrastructure in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop agreed\nthat the draft strategy would be finalized soon after consultations with\nrelevant stakeholders and then after government endorsement\/adoption would be\ntaken up for implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary D. Mataraarachchi\nof the State Ministry of Warehouse Facilities, Container Yards, Port Supply\nFacilities and Boat and Shipping Industry Development and other senior\nofficials from Ministry of Highways, Ministry of Ports and Shipping, Sri Lanka\nPorts Authority and Sri Lanka Railway also joined the discussions. Prof. Lalith\nEdirisinghe from the CINEC Maritime Campus, Sri Lanka shared the views\nrepresenting the non-government sector. First Secretary and Deputy Permanent\nRepresentative Saritha Ranatunga also joined from the Embassy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka<\/strong> Bangkok,<\/strong>
Thailand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

07th<\/sup> July\n2021<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Bangkok, Thailand A national consultation workshop on a strategy for sustainable freight transport in Sri Lanka was virtually held by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Embassy and the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Bangkok and the Ministry of Transport […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}