The 56th session of the FIATA World Congress, with co-hosts Ministry of Transport and the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders (FMFF) received accolades from Zurich-based FIATA for the successful organisation of the event in Kuala Lumpur. FIATA is the influential non-governmental organisation (NGO) which represents the freight forwarding industry worldwide.
One of the largest and most important events in the global logistics industry calendar, the Congress was attended by more than one thousand delegates, from 77 countries. Over 300 official B2B meetings were conducted, with 20% involving Malaysian businesses.
“We are most impressed with the level of professionalism in the organisation of the Congress in Kuala Lumpur, and the large number of delegates who attended would benefit from the many new contacts made,” said Hans Guenther Kersten, Director-General of FIATA.
“I believe our colleagues in the region will take away much food for thought, listening to the world logistics experts sharing their knowledge and experiences in the past few days,” said Alvin Chua, President of FMFF.
“We also had a very good town-hall style session between our Minister of Transport YB Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai and young Malaysian logisticians, gearing up towards TN50 and beyond,” he said.
Meanwhile, YB Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, Minister of Transport Malaysia expressed his appreciation to FIATA, FMFF and delegates of the FIATA World Congress 2017 for the successful outcome of the event. “I believe we have achieved our objective of “Logistics Bridging Global Trade” given the high level of mutual cooperation and partnerships shown during the congress. This is indeed an exciting time for the logistics industry in the region and around the world” he said.
Apart from its consultative status in UN bodies and its involvement in regulations affecting a wide range of industry issues, FIATA is committed to bringing “new blood” into the international logistics community. Its annual YIFFY Awards programme, covering the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific, is focused on encouraging younger colleagues to contribute with innovative and creative ideas for practical applications in transportation.
After Kuala Lumpur, the FIATA 2018 and FIATA 2019 Congresses will be held in New Delhi and Cape Town respectively. Topics in this year’s Congress included the impact of technology on trade and logistics, gains from infrastructure investment, updates on an emergent Africa and logistics training for the “NextGen” of freight forwarders.
The logistics industry is gaining in global significance as one of the “core pillars” in the world economy.
In Malaysia, the establishment of the National Logistics Task Force and the implementation of the Logistics & Trade Facilitation Master Plan in 2015, is targeted at identifying and solving issues within the industry, in our continuous effort to enhance efficiencies, thus accelerating economic growth.
Hosting world logistics events such as the FIATA World Congress is yet another step towards making the country a logistics hub for ASEAN and the “Preferred Gateway to Asia”.
