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Country Visit in Colombia

The Special Envoy held bilateral meetings with the following road safety stakeholders during his stay in Colombia in January 2018.
Mr. German Cardona Gutierrez, Minister of Transport and Mr. Alejandro Maya Martinez, Director of the National Road Safety Agency

The Special Envoy gave an overview of his mandate, activities and priorities, including regional efforts during his meeting with Mr. German Cardona Gutierrez, Minister of Transport and Mr. Alejandro Maya Martinez, Director of the National Road Safety Agency. Mr. Maya Martinez briefed the Special Envoy about on-going activities, highlighting that road traffic fatalities decreased by 5.6% in the past year as a result of implementing the National Road Safety Strategy. The Minister emphasized that speeding was a primary cause of road fatalities. The Special Envoy gave an overview of United Nations road safety conventions, which provide a strong foundation to address road safety governance, and encouraged Colombia’s accession; the Minister expressed strong interest. In conclusion, the Special Envoy shared about on-going establishment of the United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund aimed at supporting countries in implementing their road safety efforts. 

United Nations Country Team in Colombia
The Special Envoy provided an update since last meeting in 2016, including the progress on the United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund and the UN Internal Road Safety Strategy. The UN Country Team (UNCT) agreed that more could be done to address road safety in the country, including to coordinate on-going programs with those of Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, and CAF Development Bank of Latin America. The Special Envoy encouraged the UNCT to support government of Colombia and their road safety initiatives, as well as Colombia’s accession to UN Road Safety Conventions. 

The following members of the UNCT participated in the meeting:

Mr. Pontus Ohrstedt, Head of UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Colombia 

Mr. Jorge Alturas, Deputy Chief Security Advisor, UNDSS 

Mr. Mauricio Cuéllar Montoya, Senior Transport Specialist, World Bank 

Ms. Blanca Cardona, Program Specialist, UNDP 

Mr. Alonso Tobón, Coordination Analyst, Office of the Resident Coordinator


This was the second visit to Colombia since Mr. Todt was appointed to the post of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Road Safety. During his previous mission to Colombia in October 2016, the Special Envoy held meetings with Ms. Paula Sanchez, Director of National Road Safety Agency; Mr. Juan Pablo Bocarejo, Bogota Secretary General for Mobility; Mr. Enrique Penalosa, Mayor of Bogota; Mr. Jorge Eduardo Rojas, Minister of Transport of Colombia; Ms. Mary Bottagisio, President of Liga Contra la Violencia Vial; representatives of the Ministry of Health and UN Country Team. 

Colombia is considered an upper middle-income country with a population of forty-seven million inhabitants. According to the WHO, Colombia is estimated to suffer from 8,107 road fatalities each year. Colombia is not a contracting party to any of the UN Road Safety Conventions. According to the WHO, Colombia has strong laws addressing three of five risk factors: drink-driving, child-seat, and seat-belt law. However, the speed control and helmet use laws need to be improved.