The International Transport Forum’s 2014 Summit, organised by ITF, the global transport policy platform within the OECD, successfully took place in Leipzig, Germany, from 21 – 23 May 2014, bringing together 1100 participants from 69 countries, for three days of debate on how megatrends will reshape our world and how transport policy can shape responses to emerging trends. The ITF Conference also included the Summit of Transport Ministers held under the Chairmanship of the French Transport Minister.
This year the Summit dealt with “Transport for a Changing World”. Together, political decision-makers, researchers and representatives of civil society discussed about this theme and tried to anticipate the transformations taking place in our societies.
UIC, which has fostered close and fruitful links with ITF for several years now, has once again participated in the Forum this year to represent the worldwide rail sector.
UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux was invited to take the floor and introduce the Ministerial Round Table dedicated to “Competition in Rail Sector”, to provide the Rail sector’s vision and give a global overview of the current challenges. He particularly attracted the attention of other participants – Ministers and representatives of the Rail sector, among them Mrs Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport, Canada, Mr Hyung-ku Yeo, Vice-Minister for Transport, Korea, Mr Bambang Susantono, Vice Minister of Transportation, Indonesia, Mr Mohamed Najib Boulif, Deputy Minister of Transport at the Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Logistics, Morocco, Mr Gapanovith, Senior Vice President of Russian Railways (RZD) – on Globalisation of the economy and the direct links between Mobility and Transport.
He reminded participants that Railways are the backbone of a complementary modal system and not necessarily in competition but have to develop effective synergies. He added that evolution between the Transport and Logistics Chain has to take into account the evolving needs and expectations of customers.
He also participated in a Round Table dedicated to “The Workforce for a New Transport Future”. Concerning this subject, he highlighted the existence of a generation gap; in a context of growing internationalisation, the Railways need to prepare the new generations for these challenges by structuring the training offer at several levels through transmission, through adapting to new technologies and senior managerial training in a broad international multimodal context. He concluded that the diversification of jobs in the Rail sector creates the need for new skills and opens new job opportunities, in particular for women.
In parallel to ITF, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux also participated in an event dedicated to the SLOCAT (Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport) project. Several participants including UITP Secretary General and representative of Asian Development Bank, took the floor to present their respective views and projects in the context of Transport Initiatives for the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit planned on 23 September in New-York. Among these initiatives, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux mentioned the UIC Low Carbon Sustainable Rail Transport Challenge as a follow-up of the Abu Dhabi Ascent held from 4 – 5 May held in the United Arab Emirates. He also mentioned the UIC initiatives planned for the Special Transport Day to be held in New York on 22 September and the coordinating participation in the COP 21 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) to be held in Paris in December 2015.
UIC was also present with a stand at the exhibition together with other institutional partners. It provided an opportunity to communicate on UIC’s latest activities and achievements.
