BANGKOK – Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) today reviewed their cooperation in Sustainable Port Development, designed to enhance the quality and efficiency of Safety, Health and Environmental Management. Moreover this cooperation also improves workers quality of life and assists the community surrounding the port.
The ASEAN-German project on Sustainable Development in the ASEAN region (SPD), is a cooperative venture between Germany & ASEAN, and has been in operation since the end of 2009. The project aims to develop safety management, including occupational health, and air quality management. There are six countries participating in this project: Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam which are categorized into 12 areas, for which Thailand is the headquarters. The project has been funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Each organization is responsible for specific duties; Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia, (PEMSEA) creates the Port Safety Code Management system in order to set standards and to certify ports which meet the qualifications such as Bangkok Port, Laem Chabang port and the Philippines port. And, GIZ is the organization which is the focal point in enhancing technical knowledge.
Throughout the life of the project, all the participating ports have developed safety management, occupational health standards, and environmental management such as the measurement of air and environment quality, and measures for accident prevention, port traffic control, and hazardous waste disposal. Even though this cooperation will finish in mid-year 2016, its hoped that GIZ might choose to continue the established cooperation in order to maintain the laudable achievements.
