The International Transport Forum’s 2017 Summit organised by ITF-OECD was successfully held in Leipzig from 31 May – 2 June 2017.
The event attracted over 1,400 participants from all continents (a record participation) and 57 Transport Ministers from all over the world.
The Summit was chaired by Sr. Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Secretary of Transportation and Communication of Mexico.
At the official opening session, Mr. Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure of Germany, and Mr. José Viegas, Secretary General of the International Transport Forum ITF, also addressed the summit participants.
This Global Summit 2017 was dedicated to the theme ‘Governance of Transport’ and debates and exchanges focused on a number of subthemes such as ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Connectivity’, ‘Innovation’, ‘Urban Access’.
UIC, which is developing railway cooperation activities in nearly all domains addressed during this summit – in particular in the fields of infrastructure management, digitalisation and connectivity, technical innovation and research, education and training – was present with a UIC stand in the exhibition area where intensive discussions with conference participants could take place.
At Global Summit, Ministers called for improved governance of transport
Regulation should foster innovation, provide a framework for open data use and help to make mobility in cities more inclusive.
Transport Ministers from the 57 member countries of the International Transport Forum expressed their political will to improve the governance frameworks for transport in order to help achieve objectives agreed by the international community.
“Transport governance should consider the ambitious goals set [by] the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Successful implementation of these agreements calls for significant changes to transport systems, technologies and to the overall governance of the sector”, Ministers stated in the “2017 Ministerial Declaration of Governance of Transport”, agreed on 1 June at their Summit in Germany.
In their joint declaration, Ministers recognised that regulatory and fiscal frameworks may require adjustment to promote innovative mobility solutions and call for responsive regulation to foster innovation.
Specifically, Ministers expressed their will to create a sound framework for open mobility data and support new approaches to collaboration between the private and public sectors to share data. They welcomed initiatives to make all non-personal transport data collected by governments openly available and encourage transport companies to make their data available in open standard formats. Ministers will also promote measures to ensure cyber security and data protection in transport.
Taking note of on-going urbanisation, Ministers encouraged cooperation among all levels of authority to ensure that transport systems in urban areas provide inclusive access to services and sustainable mobility solutions for their rapidly expanding populations. Specifically, they called for better coordination of transport, land use, and fiscal policies.
The text of the 2017 Ministerial Declaration on Governance of Transport can be consulted here:
https://www.itf-oecd.org/2017-ministerial-declaration-governance-transport
To watch the interview with Paul Véron, UIC Director, please click here:
