BUSAN, Nov 26 — Asean needs to develop its own freighter capabilities to transport high value and expensive products, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Speaking to the media after the conclusion of the Asean-South Korea Commemorative Summit here, the prime minister said high-value goods are transported by air and this is dominated by well-known multinationals.
“Nowadays, a lot of goods (are) no longer transported by sea. We need to develop freighter capabilities owned by the countries of Asean because we produced a lot of microchips and other high-value products that are suitable for this,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said this during a plenary session discussing connectivity and the leaders also talked about rail transportation.
“Laos is landlocked, for example, it has no port. They’re building their landport and connect it to Vietnam to the sea,” he said.
Dr Mahathir added that China is completing the train, and from Laos, it would be connected to Thai railways which in turn would be connected to Malaysia’s railways as well.
“This is our old suggestions that we should have a rail connection right up to Kunming. With the completion of that, you can travel from Johor Bahru to Kunming by train. Transport of goods by train will be easier,” he said. — Bernama
