INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE PENANG PORT AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

PENANG (Malaysia), April 13 (Bernama) -- Organising the Asean Maritime
Transport Roadmap Meeting is seen as an initiative to promote Penang port at the
international level through Asean countries.

Penang Port Commission chairman Tan Cheng Liang said the meeting was also an
opportunity to raise competitiveness and relations among the world's leading
ports with Penang port.

"There are still many who are not aware about Penang port and its
capabilities, and there are those who consider it just as an intermediate port,"
she told reporters after officiating the meeting here Monday.

Penang is a state in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular
Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca.

Various efforts, she said, were being made to improve the competitiveness of
Penang port, raising its standard and prestige.

Tan said the port authorities were now in process of upgrading facilities,
including a plan to deepen the northern channel to accommodate bigger shipping
vessels.

Such facilities, when ready, will raise the competitiveness of the port and
enable it to compete with various ports, she said.

"The plan to deepen the port area has been submitted to the Transport
Ministry and we hope the project can be approved and implemented under the 10th
Malaysia Plan," she added.

Present at Monday's meeting were representatives from Malaysia, Brunei,
Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.

-- BERNAMA