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Overview of the Asia and the Pacific Transport Forum

ADB will host the flagship transport sector event, the Asia and the Pacific Transport Forum 2024 on 14-15 May, with capacity development training events held on 16-17 May. This year’s event is entitled “Clean Transport For All,” and will focus on ADB as the climate bank and how the transport sector can decarbonize as well as ensuring climate resilience of transport infrastructure.  

Since 2008, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has hosted the Transport Forum every two years as a gathering of the Asia-Pacific region’s transport experts and sector stakeholders. From its humble beginnings of a few dozen attendees, the Transport Forum has grown to become the region’s premier transport knowledge event where the sector’s leaders and experts can have an open dialogue and share international best practices and experiences.

As a biennial event, the Transport Forum’s agenda has shifted throughout the years, Topics over the last few events included: 

2022: 
  • Sector’s Transformation in the context of the international agreements 
  • Decarbonization of Transport and Quality Transport Infrastructure Investments 
2020: 
  • Transport and Mobility under the new normal conditions. 
  • Climate Change and Disaster Resilience 
2018:  
  • E-Vehicles and New Transport Technology  
  • Regional Connectivity  
2016: 
  • Decongesting Maritime Ports  
  • Rural Accessibility  
2014: 
  • Performance-Based Road Contracts  
  • Climate-proofing Transport Project

The 2024 Forum focus will be on ADB’s transport sector support and assistance to global public goods, notably climate change and SDGs, with transport firmly placed as an enabler of development. Other key corporate agendas on gender, social development, digitalization will be covered alongside sector specific topics such as rail, urban transport, smart mobility and road system operations.  

Given the key challenges of the transport sector, some topics are common every Forum. These include sessions on the relationship between climate change and transport, urban transport, and sessions on regional connectivity and cross border trade, among others.  

The Transport Forum is also well known for its panels, which attract high level participants. Over the last four transport Forums, panelists have included Heather Thompson, Institute of Transportation and Development Policy; Hamadh Abdul Ghanee, Deputy Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Maldives; Andre Viljoen, Deputy Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Maldives; Jaehak Oh, Korea Transport Institute; Yama Yari, Minister of Public Works of Afghanistan; Chencho Norbu, the Secretary of the National Environment Commission of Bhutan;  Naresh Kumar, the chair of the New Delhi Municipal Council of India; and ranking officials from our partners in JICA, the WHO, the Development Bank of Latin America and other development organizations. Members of ADB’s Management have also been integral to these panels, and members of the media have served as the moderators. 

Objectives

The key objective of the ADB Flagship event is for ADB to showcase our technical and financial assistance and for DMC officials to gain broader understanding of critical and emerging solutions for the transport sector issues facing the region. The Forum brings together leading experts in transport and related fields and provides knowledge sharing and capacity development workshops to build capacity of our clients. The Forum is the premier gathering of the transport expert community in the region and allows all to develop a greater understanding on key transport issues. 

The Forum allows those working on real-world sustainable transport solutions such as policy makers, thought leaders, and practitioners working in the transport sector to discuss their experiences during the pandemic and their views on the future to come. ADB also takes the flagship event as an opportunity to engage in dialogue between ADB staff and its developing member countries and partners on the challenges and opportunities facing the transport sector as it seeks to rebuild after a major pandemic.

Target Participants

  • Key decision makers of governmental transport agencies and organizations
  • Other government agencies in related fields such as energy, health, social development, urban development, employment, environment and climate change
  • Infrastructure and asset managers of transport networks and systems
  • Transport sector specialists, focused on technical or policy issues
  • Policy makers, regulators, and managers from the public and private sectors
  • Representatives and experts in transport related technologies
  • Development and knowledge partners working on transport issues and solutions

  


                   
                       
 
 
 
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