1. Objectives of the workshop

In order to conduct research works for realization of the concept of the Seamless Asia, which is stated in "The New National Land Sustainability Plan (National Plan)", improvement of statistics of traffic and transportation is the major issue.
The first workshop on statistics of Asian traffic and transportation was held in March 2008 and current data issues of traffic and transportation statistics were discussed. In the workshop, importance of commoditization and standardization of traffic and transportation statistics was identified, and the course of action to be taken was proposed.
This workshop was held on 23rd October at Tokoname City of Aichi Prefecture for the panel discussion of improvement of traffic and transportation statistics in Asia, with participation of experts of traffic and transportation statistics from Eastern Asian countries, including a newly participated expert from the ASEAN Secretariat, in order to deepen discussions in the first workshop".
Following to the workshop, the panelists of the workshop and some researchers of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS) joined the Second EASTS Volunteers' Meeting and discussed about possible actions to be taken for standardization and sharing statistics of traffic and transportation in Asia, and the Asian Transportation Research Network proposed in the First EASTS Volunteers' Meeting.
Conclusion of the Second EASTS Volunteers' Meeting

2. Organizers and participants

The workshop was undertaken by: i) National and Regional Planning Bureau, Ministry of Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, and ii) Kyoto University's Global COE program (Global Center for Education and Research on Human Security Engineering for Asian Megacities)
Researchers and experts from Singapore, China, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, the ASEAN Secretariat, and Japan, as a coordinator and panelists of the panel discussion, and audiences from universities, research institute and related industries, 55 people in total, attended the workshop.

3. Outline of the workshop

The Workshop included opening addresses, presentation by the panelists and discussion among the panelists:
i) Opening address
Mr. Akita KIDO, Deputy Director General of Deputy Director General of National and Regional Planning Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan.
Prof. Eiichi TANIGUCHI, Graduates School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan.
ii) Opening Remarks by the Coordinator
Prof. Tien Fang FWA, National University of Singapore.
iii) Presentations by Panelists
A)"Transport and logistics data for public transport planning and management" given by Prof. Eiichi TANIGUCHI, Graduates School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan.
B)"The Current and Future Development of Logistics Hub in China" given by Prof. Lixin MIAO, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, China.
C)"Transport statistics of Mongolia", given by Mr. Baasankhuu MANDUUL, Project Manager, Ministry of Road, Transport and Tourism, Mongolia.
D)"Status of Transportation Statistics in Thailand", given by Dr. Sompong SIRISOPONSILP, Associate Professor, Transportation Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
E)"Freight Demand Model and Data collections in Korea", given by Dr. Sang Kyu HWANG, Director of Center for Korea Transport Database, Korea Transport Institute (KOTI).
F)"Developing Transport Statistics in ASEAN", given by Mr. John Frederick DE GUIA, Senior Officer for Statistics, Statistics Unit, The ASEAN Secretariat.
ⅳ) Summary discussions
Based on the presentations, discussion was carried out among the panelists. Then, questions and answers of panelists and a floor was also carried out.

4. Summary of the conclusions

Based on the presentations and discussions, the coordinator Prof. Tien Fang FWA summarized the conclusions as follows:

・We have heard from 6 panelists and 4 of them have given us the national effort in database development in China, Mongolia, Thailand and Korea. We see clearly that they are very high level of national effort with very great commitment from Korea, but in other countries, which is quite commonplace, we see the need for resources and the need for technology and capacity-building at a national level to achieve the level which is seen in Korea. So that need is certainly there. So we have identified the need for resources and the need for expertise at the national level.

・We are very fortunate to have Professor Taniguchi to bring us to another level, looking at the regional and international level, highlighting to us the issues that are facing us: the inconsistency of the data collected in different countries, and also the lacking of data at regional and international level. There is also the definite important role of international organizations like ASEAN, ADB, UNESCAP in regional/international database development.

・Of course, we are fortunate to have Mr. De Guia to give us another perspective of how important regional data are, which is different from national specific data. Both national specific data and regional data are needed. In that sense, we require a coordinated collaborative effort like the workshop we have today. Professor Taniguchi has mentioned the possibility of individual researchers and efforts at national level engaging international organizations. We pool our resources together. While the international organization may not have the capability to acquire data at a national level, we need the national-level effort, face-to-face discussions, providing the local knowledge. In fact, with the local efforts, we can obtain the first-hand information and provide the reliability and quality of the data. That is an important aspect which would probably answer the issue brought up by Mr. De Guia that sometimes, on certain data, you don't even know the sources, or the way to verify whether the data are reliable or not. Such coordinated effort, collaborative effort, will be one of the effective ways, if not the only one, to address all the issues that we identified today. We hope we can go effectively along that line.

・Another point is that the data are very useful for regional economic planning, like Prof. Yoshida has mentioned. In fact, it is something that all of us needed, but it requires effort from every one of us. We belong to the big family and being a member of the family, all of us must contribute. We must come to a level that we understand there is no point in hiding data in our own pocket. It is not going to help you. We must all contribute, so we understand that international organizations, ASEAN, ADB, UNESCAP will have an important role to play.

・Finally, we hope that we can mobilize all these resources. They are already available somewhere, but we need to pool them together and each of us put in an effort and make it a success.