The second ASEAN Private Sector Partnership Building Outreach Event was held on 29 March 2022 targeting Thailand. This event was a follow up to the successful event for Malaysia and Singapore organised in February.
The event received enthusiastic participation from 64 representatives of trade bodies, logistics providers, transporters, manufacturers and suppliers. The private sector from Malaysia, who missed out on the first event in February joined the ACTS Thailand Outreach event.
The prime objective of the event was to create greater awareness about ACTS among the different industry players. The event was designed to provide the private sector representatives with the necessary information to better understand the functionality and benefits of ACTS which has been operating live in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam since 2 November 2020.
The event consisted of three core segments:
- sharing of experiences and benefits based on hands on experience of using ACTS by the General Manager of City Zone Express Sdn Bhd, Mr S.Pirithivaraj;
- presentations by ARISE Plus technical experts Mr Aivaras Pigaga and Mr Skevos Miaoulis on the technical and practical aspects of ACTS such as processes at departure, border and destination, bank guarantee, registration process and challenges during the pandemic; and
- the Q&A session
Participants were provided insights into benefits of ACTS such as seamless customs clearance, faster border crossings, the possibility of the use of a single truck, guaranteed processing time, loading and sealing of own vehicles and automatic clearance by the ACTS system for low-risk movements.
The Q&A session saw active interaction and participants were eager to obtain a better understanding of ACTS and how this would complement existing regional framework agreements such as ATIGA and AFAFGIT[1]. This led to a fruitful discussion on the complementary relationship between the export regime, transport regime, ACTS and the import regime in ASEAN which further benefitted the event participants.
Growth and progress are often in tandem with adaptation and changes and ARISE Plus is fully in sync with these dynamics. Acknowledging the need for better understanding and familiarity, ARISE Plus and the ASEC ACTS Central Management Team are also offering further assistance on ACTS through individual company workshops. It is hoped that more stakeholders will be able to benefit from the added value of trade digitalisation that ACTS has to offer.
[1] ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and ASEAN Framework Agreement on facilitation Of Goods in Transit (AFAFGIT)
