| Danial Norjidi |
THE use of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA) was highlighted during the first plenary session of the 14th Southeast Asia Survey Congress (SEASC) yesterday.
During the first plenary session of the congress, Surveyor (Sr) Pengiran Matusin Matasan, the President of the Brunei Institution of Geomatics delivered a presentation entitled ‘Bridging the Gap through MRA’.
In his presentation, Pengiran Matusin noted that Asean Federation of Land Surveying & Geomatics (AFLAG) was established on March 15, 1995. The objective of AFLAG, amongst others, includes: to serve as a focal point for exchange of ideas related to land surveying and geomatics in the Asean region; and to cooperate with national and international organisations and to support and supplement their work.
He said that AFLAG assists Competent Authorities in Asean member states in capacity building and institutional strengthening; assists to establish professional institutions; assists to set up regulatory and licensing/registration systems; and training.
He also noted that on December 15, 1995, the Asean Economic Ministers signed the Asean Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) to formally institutionalise the cooperation in trade services in Asean.
The objectives of AFAS include: to enhance cooperation in services amongst Asean; to improve efficiency and competitiveness, diversify production capacity and supply and distribution of services of their services suppliers within and outside Asean; to eliminate substantial restrictions to trade in services amongst member states; and to further expand liberalisation in trade in services beyond those undertaken by member states under GATS with the aim to achieve a free trade area in services.
He also noted that at the 7th Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan on November 5, 2001, Asean leaders mandated the start of negotiations on MRA to facilitate the flow of professional services under AFAS.
Mutual Recognition, he explained, is the process which allows the qualifications gained in one country to be recognised in another country.
The goal of a MRA is to facilitate the flow of foreign professionals taking into account relevant domestic regulations and market demand conditions. An MRA enables professional services certified or registered by the relevant authorities in their home country to be mutually recognised by other signatory member states.
In his presentation, he shared that the Asean Economic Ministers signed the Framework Arrangement for the Mutual Recognition of Surveying Qualifications on November 19, 2007 in Singapore.
One of the objectives of the Framework Arrangement is to identify the framework and establish the basis for Competent Authorities to observe while negotiating MRAs between or amongst each other to facilitate the mutual recognition and mobility of surveying professionals as it is recognised that Asean member countries may have different nomenclatures and requirements.
Another objective is to exchange information in order to promote trust and adoption of best practices on surveying standards and qualifications.
“We still have quite some way to go before we finalise the MRA. So there are challenges ahead, and we have to adopt certain strategies to address these challenges.”
It was shared that these challenges include: recognition/definition of surveying services; the different levels of development between member states; accessibility and quality of education systems; and regulatory and licensing/registration systems in place.
An expert group, Land Equity International (LEI) was engaged to provide the technical assistance to find solutions to move the roadmap and implementation plan forward faster.
LEI aimed to develop an implementation strategy for the Asean MRA for Surveying with the result of improving the freer movement of surveying professionals across Asean.
As a result, the major outcome of the project is a roadmap with detailed activities and outcomes to better understand, document and enhance the education, professional competencies and institution of sustainable surveying profession across all Asean member states that underpins country specific, regional and global progress and development.
“They identified certain key elements that should be addressed very, very quickly,” he said.
Pengiran Matusin shared that the Surveying MRA Group agreed to work towards Asean Registered Surveyors by excluding the Land Cadastre at this juncture with the following focus: Educational Template; Licensing and registration procedure; and National Surveying Boards.
He proceeded to share some success stories, beginning with the current status of registered Asean professionals. “The architects and the engineers have concluded their MRAs and they’ve already registered an extensive number of Asean professionals.”
Statistics he shared show 2,552 professionals registered under engineering (15 from Brunei Darussalam) and 417 registered under architecture (11 from Brunei Darussalam) and 136 under accountancy (from Singapore and Thailand) while none are registered under surveying.
Pengiran Matusin said that work towards Asean Registered Surveyor has been entrusted to Malaysia, who will develop a concept paper for discussion in the coming CCS Meeting in October in Cambodia.
He also noted that Brunei Darussalam and Singapore signed a bilateral MRA on Surveying Education Qualifications in November 2016. In addition, a bilateral MRA on Surveying Education Qualifications between the Land Surveyors Board of Peninsular Malaysia and Land Surveyors Board Singapore has also been concluded.
Pengiran Matusin said, “The thinking is if and when we finalise the Asean Framework of the Arrangement for the Mutual Recognition of Surveying Qualifications, we will have the MRA for surveying services, and there will be the opportunity for surveying professionals to mobilise across Asean. And we will have a free flow of professionals, and it is possible, especially in a borderless world.”
“But we must be mindful that there is a lot of work to be done, there are a lot of gaps to be filled. Even though we cannot close the gap altogether, but we must be mindful of this gap,” he continued. “It is up to us, it is up to the surveyor professionals in the Asean member states to help each other to narrow the gap and bridge the gap.”
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