ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

The 23rd ASEAN Maritime Transport Working Group Meeting (23rd MTWG) was held on 19 -21 March 2012 in Yangon, Myanmar. Some 50 delegates from ASEAN countries, dialogue partners and maritime associations’ representatives have congregate in Yangon for three days for the 23rd ASEAN Maritime Transport Working Group (MTWG) 2012.

The meeting discussed the development of several projects under the Roadmap towards an Integrated and Competitive Maritime Transport in ASEAN and the Brunei Action Plan (ASEAN Strategic Transport Plan) 2011-2015. Both the Roadmap and Action Plan of Brunei among others aimed to establish more efficient and competitive regional maritime transport sector and to provides guidelines on navigation and maritime safety and marine environmental protection for the ASEAN countries.

Malaysia acts as the Lead Country Coordinator of three of the 19 measures introduced under Roadmap towards an Integrated and Competitive Maritime Transport in ASEAN through Ministry of Transport, Malaysia (MOT). MOT has officially appointed APA Malaysia to lead one of the projects under MTG-2; MTA-7; No.1: “Formulate training program to enhance capability of port personnel by 2015”. Representatives from APA Malaysia presented an information paper for this project in the meeting.
The hosting of the MTWG is based on a rotation system among ASEAN members and each country will be hosting it for two years. Malaysia was the host for 2010-2011 and subsequently Myanmar for 2012-2013.

Brunei Darussalam is honoured to host the ASEAN Ports Association Sports Meet for the second time since the 3rd APA Sports in 1991. The 9th APA Sports Meet was successfully held in Bandar Seri Begawan from 25th to 29th June 2007. The event was participated by a total of 323 participants and officers from 8 ASEAN countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The event was organized by the Ports Department, Ministry of Communications, Brunei Darussalam. The launching of 9th APA Sports Meet was officiated by Dato Paduka Haji Yusoff bin Haji Abd Hamid, Acting Minister of Communications. Hosting this Sports Meet is one of the events that Brunei Darussalam has been looking forward to.

Unlike previous Sports Meets, Brunei Darussalam introduced a few different features into the 9th APA Sports Meet. This time, Brunei Darussalam has prepared for 6 games in total, i.e Golf, Futsal, Badminton, Mini Marathon, Table Tennis and Ten Pin Bowling. Ten Pin Bowling and Futsal are two new sports introduced this time around, where Futsal was to replace soccer while Ten Pin Bowling was introduced to bring new excitement to the Sports Meet. Also, Brunei Darussalam has introduced a medal system instead of a point system where the system is similar to the SEA Games.

The event demonstrated the close ties from Member Countries, whom had been acquainted from previous Sports Meet as well as making new friendships through the sports events as well as social activities such as the Opening Ceremony, Welcome Dinner, Closing Ceremony and Farewell Dinner. The cultural performances presented by member countries were met with enjoyment and friendship that APA Sports Meet encourages.

There was also good sportsmanship and cheer displayed for all the six sports activities and after 4 days of friendly competition, Thailand became the Overall Champion with 11 Gold medals, followed by Indonesia as runner-up with 7 Gold Medals and Malaysia in the 3rd place with 3 Gold Medals. Other Member Countries also did well. Details of the result is attached.

As the 9th APA Sports Meets came to a close, it was evident that despite the competitions, new friendships, fostering of cooperation and cordiality among officers and staff of ports among the ASEAN members was far more important. The APA Sports Meet is a venue where officers and staff of all levels get together in a single gathering where they could get to know each other better. At the Closing Ceremony, Brunei Darussalam, represented by Dato Paduka Haji Md Yusof bin Haji Md Hassan, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Communications handed over the APA flag to Thailand to signify its turn as the next host, as Vietnam has indicated that they would not be able to host the next APA Sports Meet. The 10th APA Sports Meet will be held in 2010.