A EuroMed Partner countries delegation attended the 81st session of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC), Geneva, 19 – 22 February 2019, under the EU-funded EuroMed Transport Support Project (EuroMed TSP).

The delegation consisted of H.E. Ammar Yassin, Deputy Minister of Transport, Palestine; H.E Sassi Hammami, SG MOT Tunisia; H.E, Ambassador Mahmoud Allam, MOT, Egypt; Mr. Alsad Babisaid, Director Freight Transport, MOT, Jordan; Mr. Ali Al Masri, Chief Land Transport, MOT, Lebanon; Ms. Zahraa Ouacifi, Chief Transport Coordination, Morocco; Mr. Karim Adib, Director Vehicle Type Approval, MOT, Morocco; Mr. Anis Slama, Director Road Transport, Tunisia; Mr. Michalis Adamantiadis and Mr. Christos Petreas, EuroMed TSP.

Meetings were held with H.E. Jean Todt, UN SG’s Special Enjoy for Road Safety; Mr. Kristof Schockaert, ITC Chair; Mr. Young Tae Kim, SG International Transport Forum (ITF); Ms. Luciana Iorio, Chair WP.1; Mr. Yuwei Li, Director and Mr. Francesco Dionori, Chief of Section, UNECE Sustainable Transport Division; Mr. Stefano Paci, EC DG MOVE, along with several country delegates and NGOs.

The 81st annual session of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) in 2019 marked a milestone in its history. The Committee adopted its strategy until 2030 to better position it in a fast-changing global policy environment. The session started, with a high-level policy segment on “Automation in Transport”, in which 40 Ministers and more than 60 Country High level delegates attended along with all the important International and regional Transport related organizations and NGOs.  The high-level policy segment was enriched by side events and exhibitions or demonstrations of new technologies related to the automation in transport.

During the regular session of the Committee, important topics concerning all modes and main issues of Inland Transport were discussed, including Road Safety, the United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund; automation; Intelligent Transport Systems, digitalization; e-documents, including eCMR and eTIR; the transport of dangerous goods; border-crossing facilitation and much more. The EuroMed delegation had an active participation and made several interventions, including on the issues of Road Safety, Road Transport, transport of Dangerous Goods and others.

Dedicated meetings with H.E Mr. Jean Todt, UN SG’s Special Envoy for Road Safety and Mr. Yuwei Li, Director of the UNECE Sustainable Division provided the opportunity to the EuroMed Delegates to discuss in more details on issues of interest to their countries as well as on continuing and further strengthening cooperation.