2 Sep 2004, Field Trip and Informal Gathering; 3-4 Sep 2004, Official Workshop at Melia Hanoi Hotel, Viet Nam
Background
The Partnership for Sustainable Transport in Asia (PSUTA) is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Center for Transport and Environment. ADB received a grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for EMBARQ’s participation, while EMBARQ contributed funds from the Shell Foundation. The project will run for 2004 and the first quarter of 2005. Key results will be presented at the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities’ (CAI-Asia) "Better Air Quality 2004" (BAQ 2004) in Agra, India, 6-8 December.
The PSUTA has been joined by three Asian cities, Hanoi (Vietnam), Pune (India) and Xi’an (China). The official partner for the PSUTA in Hanoi is the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, and Housing (DoNREH), under the terms of an MOU signed with the Asian Development Bank. The objective of this partnership is to further sustainable transport using EMBARQ’s transport skills and expertise to facilitate and identify the different problems faced by each city. Teams of city transport and environment specialists, aided by experts provided by EMBARQ to act as "mentors", will assist each city in understanding and identifying indicators related to each city’s critical needs for improving their transport sustainability as part of this partnership.
An "internal coordination meeting" will be held Aug. 30- Sept 1 in Hanoi. During this workshop, the active partners in PSUTA will evaluate the results of the work on indicators of sustainable transport. It was decided to use this first gathering as a prelude to an international "brainstorming" on developing a strategic framework for sustainable transport in Asian cities, this event, which will take place September 2- 4.
Objectives
The objectives of the PSUTA "International Brainstorming" are to design a strategic framework that can guide decision makers on urban transport in Asia in their efforts to integrate environmental, social and economic/financial sustainability of transport systems and for generalizing the lessons of the partner cities to a much larger group of Asian cities. Another objective is to allow key stakeholders (vehicle and fuel suppliers, academic experts, NGOs, international organizations and donors, etc) to contribute what they see as essential elements of sustainable urban transport in Asian cities
Expected Outputs
The "brainstorming" group will develop a strategic framework for sustainable transport that could be used for a wider group of cities in Asia. The group will ask which elements of a region appear common to enough cities in Asia, based on experience in the partner cities and elsewhere. Consideration of funding mechanisms, stakeholder engagement etc will be foremost. The results of the discussions will be summarized in a draft Strategic Framework for Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia.
Targeted Participants
This meeting is by invitation only. Beyond those directly in the PSUTA, EMBARQ and ADB have invited vehicle and fuel companies, transportation providers, noted academics and consultants, local regulators, the World Bank and other multilateral organizations and bi-lateral donors.