From 22 to 25, May 2019, LU Dongfu, General Manager of CR and Chairman of UIC Asia-Pacific went to Manila, Philippines to host the 27th Asia Pacific Regional Assembly. He also headed a delegation to visit Philippines and Vietnam at the invitations of Philippine National Railway (PNR) and Vietnam National Railway (VNR), with meetings held respectively with the Ministry of Transport of Philippines & PNR and VNR. A memorandum of understanding was also singed between CR and VNR.
The 27th UIC Asia Pacific Regional Assembly was held at the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila. Mr. LOUBINOUX, Director General of UIC, Baurzhan Urynbasarov, representative of Vice Chairman of UIC Asia Pacific and Managing Director for Infrastructure of KTZ, James LEATHER, Chief of Transport Sector Group of ADB and members of the Asia Pacific attended the meeting.
Mr. Lu Dongfu delivered the Chairman’s report on the meeting. He stated that in recent years, with joint effort of the APRA members and the UIC headquarter, the Asia-pacific region has achieved remarkable progress in different aspects of work and seen rapid expansion of its coverage and growth of influence. The research work was carried out more comprehensively. Major activities have got significant outcomes and more exchange activities are commenced. Mr. Lu also expressed that since the railway is a green, fast, efficient and easily accessible infrastructure with huge capacity and low cost, promoting railway infrastructure construction and connectivity within the region and developing modern railway logistics are of great significance for increasing the effective supply of international railway transport, reducing the cost of international logistics, strengthening economic and people-to-people exchanges and promoting sustainable economic and social development. Currently the infrastructure connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region has attracted more and more concern from different national governments and has become one of the key topics in various multilateral cooperation mechanisms in the region. Many countries in the region are planning large scale construction or upgrade of railway projects, which will contribute significantly to the shaping up of interconnected infrastructure network underpinned by the railway.
Mr. Lu also stressed that in recent years, with the high attention and great support of the Chinese government, China railway dedicates more effort to railway construction and technical innovation, with historic achievements accomplished in the railway sector. In the meanwhile, China Railway has taken the joint development of the “Belt and Road” as an opportunity, carried forward the Silk Road spirit of “peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit”, actively carried out international cooperation and exchanges in the railway sector, and shared its achievements with other countries, with eye-catching outcomes obtained in development of international logistics and implementation of key railway projects.
Mr. Lu hopes that all members will be guided by the UIC Asia-Pacific Vision 2050, adhere to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and closely work with each other to promote the implementation of various initiatives and action plans and achieve the common and high-quality development of railways in the Asia-Pacific region; strengthen cooperation and exchanges in railway corridor development and promote high-quality railway connectivity; strengthen cooperation and exchanges concerning railway transport and international logistics, and strengthen the role of railway in supporting and promoting international trade; strengthen cooperation and exchanges in railway research and innovation to provide technical support for high-quality railway development and strengthen cooperation and exchanges among railway peers and constantly expand the APRA community. The participating representatives fully agreed and supported Mr. Lu’s report.
The assembly also announced the changes of responsible personnel of the members, reviewed the 2018 final budget and the 2019 budget, listened to the report of the Director General Jean-Pierre LOUBINOUX and the project and activities report, initiated the selection of 2020 project proposals, accepted Tongji University and the University of Queensland as new UIC members and determined that the 28th APRA meeting was to be held in Tokyo, Japan on October 28, 2019.
During his visit, Mr. Lu Dongfu also met with Mr. Jean Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General of UIC, Arthur Tugade, Secretary of Transportation of Philippines, Mr. Junn B. MAGNO, General Manager of Philippine National Railways in Manila, and Mr. Vu Anh Minh, Chairman of VNR in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Mr. Lu introduced the great achievements of China's HSR since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the cooperation with relevant countries in overseas railway projects. He mentioned that China railway had a lot of practice in technical standards, survey & design, engineering & construction, equipment manufacture, operation management, talent training and TOD, and was willing to share successful experience with UIC members, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development. The Philippine and Vietnamese railways gave their warm welcome to the China railway delegation, highly acknowledged the great achievements of China railway, especially the HSR development and expected to further deepen mutual cooperation in the railway sector.
During the talks with Mr. Loubinoux, Mr. Lu Dongfu spoke highly of Mr. Loubinoux’s work as the Director General of UIC for more than a decade in promoting global railway development, enhancing international cooperation, boosting railway science and technology innovation and developing unified railway standards. Mr. Lu appreciated Mr. Loubinoux’s support and assistance to the development of both UIC Asia-Pacific region and China railway, and hoped to further enhance the friendly cooperation between China railway and UIC and jointly promote the development of global railways. Mr. Loubinoux once again congratulated Mr. Lu Dongfu on his election as the UIC APRA Chairman. He stressed that he would continue to support China railway in its participation in work of UIC and hoped that China railway would play a bigger role in UIC affairs.
During the talks with Mr. Tugade and Mr. MAGNO, Mr. Lu Dongfu said that China was willing to deepen cooperation with the Philippines in the South Line of the North-South Railway Project (NSRP) and further expand cooperation in railway planning, consultation, survey & design, engineering & construction, equipment manufacture, operation management, and talent training, etc. to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. The Philippine side thanked China railway for its sincere help and was willing to further deepen bilateral cooperation to achieve more fruitful outcomes.
During the talks with Mr. Vu Anh Minh, Mr. Lu Dongfu hoped that the two sides would further enhance concrete cooperation, promote connectivity between the China and Vietnam railways and China Railway Express to boost the railway freight development between the two countries and the Eurasian rail freight traffic. He hoped the two countries could have more exchanges on planning of railway ports and corridors so as to improve connectivity of infrastructure, and expand bilateral and multilateral exchanges and cooperation to achieve more gratifying results. Mr. Vu Anh Minh fully agreed with Mr. Lu Dongfu on his cooperation proposal and expressed that he would work with China to implement the consensus reached at this meeting and promote new progress in China-Vietnam railway cooperation.
Mr. Lu also visited the PNR station in Manila, Philippines, Saigon Passenger Train Station in Vietnam, and Cat Lai Terminal in Ho Chi Minh City during his visit.
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