Skip to main content

Bilateral meetings during ITC

During the ITC, the Special Envoy had the following bilateral meetings:
Mongolia: Mr. J.Bat-Erdene, State Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport Development
The delegate shared about the road safety situation in Mongolia, painting the picture of the development over the recent years with construction of major roads. Mongolia, in its geographic position between Russian and China, has led to significant investments in roads to connect the two neighbouring countries. The Special Envoy encouraged the delegate to consider using and acceding to the UN Road Safety Conventions to facilitate road safety consideration when building the transport law. 
Tunisia: Mr. Anis Ghedira, Minister of Transport 
The Special Envoy gave an overview of his mandate and activities. The Minister presented governmental road safety statistics, according to which there is an increase in fatalities on the road. Both the Minister and the Special Envoy agreed that establishing a Road Safety Agency should be considered as a potential solution. The Special Envoy highlighted the importance of law enforcement and application of UN Road Safety Conventions. The Minister invited the Special Envoy to visit Tunisia and meet with the Prime-Minister. 
Malaysia: Mr. Datuk Abdul Aziz bin Kaprawi, Deputy Minister of Transport
As the Special Envoy has visited Malaysia many times and is familiar with the key government officials and stakeholders, the conversation focused on solutions and next steps forward. The following issues were raised and to be addressed: fatalities related to motorcycles, safety features in cars (although the age of the vehicle fleet is young, more needs to be done on requiring safety standards on cars sold in the country), and increase in education, especially in schools (to begin build the safety culture). The delegate reiterated their commitment to supporting the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety Meeting, which will take place in Kuala Lumpur during the first week of April 2017, with the Special Envoy’s support.
Lebanon: Eng. A.H. EL Kaissi, Director General of Land and Maritime Transport
The delegates provided an update on the road safety progress in the country. They shared that the Prime Minister established a Higher Council of Road Safety recently and that there is a National Committee for Road Safety. The New Traffic Law was adopted in 2012 and implementation began in 2014. There are still elements that need to be implemented such as drivers licensing and enforcement using a point system. The Special Envoy gave an overview of his recent visit to Beirut, Lebanon and highlighted that he believed there was a tremendous will to see change from stakeholders.
EU: Ms. Violeta Bulc, Transport Commissioner 
The Commissioner commended the Special Envoy on his leadership for road safety, highlighting that the Special Envoy has successfully raised the visibility of a cause that would be otherwise be difficult for policymakers to achieve. The Commissioner expressed interest in addressing export/import of new and used vehicles as well as encouraging increased road safety efforts in Africa and in ASEAN countries. The Commissioner shared the plans for the High Level Conference on Road Safety taking place in Malta on 28-29 March 2017, where strong commitments from EU ministers are envisaged. 
Sweden: Ms. Anna Johansson, Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
The Special Envoy began by congratulating the Minister on the impressive example, as Sweden is a country with one of the lowest numbers of road traffic fatalities in the world. The Minister shared the country’s commitment to develop better tracking and data management tools as well as to address the plateauing of road traffic fatalities; any decrease in fatalities and serious injuries will require targeted action and identification of high-risk areas. The Special Envoy confirmed his attendance to the Vision Zero event that will be held in Sweden in June 2017.
Jordan: Mrs. Nourhan Shuqman, EU Adviser and EuroMed National Coordinator
Mrs. Shuqman presented an invitation to the Special Envoy from the Minister of Transport of Jordan to visit the country. The Special Envoy expressed his interest to visit the country in order to raise the visibility of road safety nationally and regionally. The delegate and the Special Envoy team discussed a potential regional road safety workshop that could be held in Jordan later in 2017. The delegates and the Special Envoy emphasized Jordan’s strategic position in the region to raise the visibility of road safety.
Egypt: Amb. Mahmoud Allam, Adviser to the Minister of Transport and EuroMed National Coordinator, Ministry of Transport 
The delegates from Egypt shared their road safety situation, explaining that there is a governance structure for road safety, however the safety culture in the country is lacking. There is a new Minister of Transport and a visit from the Special Envoy could help to raise the visibility of the issue.
The Special Envoy shared about his visit to the country two years ago, before his mandate as Special Envoy. Prior to that, Mr. Todt traveled throughout Egypt during his career in motor sport. The Special Envoy expressed his appreciation of the beauty of the country but highlighted the unfortunate reality for road safety. He offered the success story of France – decades ago France suffered from 16,000 people dying on the roads, but now, even with three times more vehicles on the road, there is five times less road traffic fatalities. The Special Envoy shared the solutions that exist within the 5 pillars for road safety and expressed his belief that halving deaths in Egypt is possible.