Category: Project News

The EU-funded EuroMed Transport Support Project successfully concluded its Regional Workshop on assessing progress, sharing best practices and planning the way ahead, held in Brussels on 11-12 October 2022.

Given the momentum of the forthcoming organization of the Conference of the Ministers responsible for Transport of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), during which the new RTAP 2021-2027 for the Mediterranean Region is expected to be endorsed, the Workshop provided an excellent opportunity to assess the overall progress so far, share best regional practices and challenges and plan for the way ahead until the end of the project’s life in December 2023.

The workshop brought together more than 20 EuroMed Partner country experts with representatives and experts from the European Commission (DG NEAR and DG MOVE), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (UNESCWA), the MobiliseYourCity Partnership and the International Road Transport Union (IRU), as well as the full EuroMed Transport Support Project Team.

During the 2-day Workshop, the participants discussed on the most recent developments and related challenges in the region and worldwide, in the area of transport facilitation, safety, sustainable development, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) implementation in reducing GHG emission in urban areas and climate change and shared related national, European and international experiences. The EuroMed partner countries expressed their utmost satisfaction with the results achieved by the project up to now and the support by the Project Team while, at the same time, reiterated their need for further support in their efforts to implement the RTAP 2014-2020 and RTAP 2021-2027. The priorities for the final year of the project were also identified, on the basis of the EuroMed partner countries needs and exchanges with the Project Team and the workplan for 2023 will be updated accordingly.

The Workshop material can be found here.

 

 

The EU funded EuroMed Transport Support Project, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport of Lebanon, organized a National Workshop on the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) and on the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods (The Harmonization Convention), in Beirut on 9 – 10 April 2019. The Workshop aimed at presenting the objectives, main provisions and benefits of both Conventions and promoting their implementation.

The event was opened by Mr. Abdel Hafeez Kaissi, Director General of the Land and Maritime Transport Directorate, Ministry of Public Works and Transport of Lebanon, and Mr. Michalis Adamantiadis, Team Leader and Road Freight Transport Key Expert of the EuroMed Transport Support Project (EuroMed TSP), with the participation of more than 40 representatives of key stakeholders from the Public and Private Sectors. “Transport facilitation of goods, exported and imported, is a key issue for our economy”, Mr. Kaissi said, “Lebanon is interested in exploring possibilities for better utilization of the TIR by Lebanese transporters and taking necessary measures in addressing existing challenges for boosting its exports, in view of the very special situation in its neighborhood”.

The full Press Release can be found here, while more information about the Workshop is available here.

 

 

Tunisia has acceded on 11 December 2018 to the Protocol amending article 1 (a), article 14 (1) and article 14 (3) (b) of the European Agreement of 30 September 1957 concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR).

According to article 6 of the Protocol “This Protocol shall enter into force one month after the date on which all the Contracting Parties to the Agreement have signed it without reservation of ratification, acceptance or approval or have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession as the case may be.”

This is considered as another highlight of the EuroMed transport Support Project. The Project Team would like to congratulate our Tunisian colleagues for this excellent achievement, which comes as an outcome of their participation to the last year’s sessions of the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (WP.15), under the EuroMed TSP (and previously RRU) support.

You can also see the UNECE website here.

 

 

Members of the EuroMed team of Experts, comprising of the Urban Transport Key Expert, Mr. David Moncholí, Mrs. Marta Marta Sainz, International Projects and Relations Expert and Mr. Spiros Triantafillos, Transport Expert, attended the annual Polis Conference, held in Brussels, Belgium, on 6-7 December 2017.

The EuroMed team of Experts had the opportunity to discuss with members of the Polis Management Committee and exchange views on regional city-networking schemes, the work done by the EuroMed Project and Polis, as well as possible ways of cooperation under Polis Global. The discussions will continue in the next period and more concrete results are expected.

Polis is a network of cities and regions working together to achieve more sustainable urban mobility. The aim is to improve local transport through integrated strategies that address the economic, social and environmental dimensions of transport. To this end, Polis supports the exchange of experiences and the transfer of knowledge between European local and regional authorities and facilitates the dialogue between local and regional authorities and other actors of the sector such as industry, research centres and universities, and NGOs. Currently, 67 cities and regions are members of the network.

The aim of the Polis Conference was to contribute in tackling local challenges through urban transport innovation. The Conference gave the opportunity to more than 500 participants representing numerous cities and regions and a wide range of other transport stakeholders, both public and private, to exchange experiences and views on the present and future of urban mobility, the challenges and relevant innovative ideas and solutions. The 100 presentations, divided into parallel sessions spread over the two days of the event, facilitated the dialogue and highlighted the emergence of technology in urban transport as part of their future.

The presentations delivered during the Polis Conference 2017 can be found here, while the photos can be found here.

 

 

 

Egypt’s determination in promoting important road transport regulatory reforms, was reaffirmed during the last mission to Cairo, from 3 to 7 December 2017, of the EU funded EuroMed Transport Support Project experts Mr. Michalis Adamantiadis, Team Leader and Road Freight Transport Key Expert and Mrs. Tatyana Karantniuk, Road Transport Regulations Expert.

Aimed at increasing efficiency, safety and high-quality performance of road transport operations and contributing to the economic development of the country, the well-being and job creation for the population, Egyptian competent authorities and key stakeholders from the public and private sector, under the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Interior, have been in close cooperation during the past two years with a multidisciplinary EuroMed Project team of Experts consisting of transport regulations Experts, transport economists, transport lawyers and transport engineers.

Identified and agreed priority areas for actions in which the work is focusing, include:

• addressing the overloading of trucks that causes loss of lives, huge costs to the economy from the damages of road infrastructure and affects negatively the functioning of road transport market;
• setting up conditions for the access to the profession of road transporters and agents, introducing obligatory training for professional drivers and registration of road transporters, agents and vehicles used, helping upgrade the professionalism and quality of services offered as well enabling better planning and policy decisions;
• setting maximum daily driving hours with 45 minutes stop after four and half hours of driving and obligatory daily and weekly rest times for professional drivers of certain categories of vehicles, along with obligatory installation of speed limiters to heavy vehicles that would save lives, while ensuring better social conditions for drivers and fair competition amongst road transporters;
• setting rules for the transport of dangerous goods and perishable foodstuffs, making roads safer and contributing to food security for the population;
• introducing better standards for vehicles of all categories and their obligatory periodical technical inspection, ensuring the circulation of safer, cleaner and energy efficient vehicles.

During the mission, the EuroMed team had productive meetings and fruitful discussions with the Management of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority: Mr. El Morsey Elhelw, Chairman, Mrs. Hanan Abdel Wahed, Manager, Mr. Emad el din Abdelmodal, Activity National Focal Point, Amgad Abdel Alam and Rabab Sobhi, Transport Planning General Managers and Thematic Focal Points on priority reforms.

Issues discussed included: the setting up, organization and functioning of a National Road Transport Regulatory Committee and Thematic Sub-committees, to coordinate actions amongst competent ministries and key stakeholders; the appointment of Thematic Focal Points, their job descriptions, expected deliverables and action plans; drafting the Executive Regulations for the promotion of priority actions, starting with those on the access to the profession and market of road transporters and transport agents and their registry.

A full day of the mission was devoted in a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Interior, H.E. Mr. Khaled Aly, Brigadier General Ayman Eldabaa, Secretary of the National Road Safety Council, Colonels  Ahmed Elhassany and Ahmed Ghazy. The relevant thorough discussions concentrated on the new Traffic Law; issues relating to overloading of trucks; maximum authorized weights and dimensions of heavy vehicles; obligatory installation of speed limiters; driving and rest times of professional drivers and their controls; training of professional drivers; type approval of vehicles and their periodical technical inspections; and Egypt’s accession to important road safety related UN Agreements and Conventions, including the Vienna Conventions on road traffic and road signs and signals of 1968 and the UN Agreements of 1958 and 1997 on the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations setting technical standards of vehicles and their mandatory inspections.

A meeting with H.E. Ambassador Allam, Advisor of the Ministry of Transport and EuroMed National Coordinator, Mr. El Morsey Elhelw, Mrs. Hanan Abdel Wahed, and Mr. Emad el din Abdelmotaal offered the opportunity for discussion on various transport policy issues and the way forward.

A very precise follow up action plan to be implemented during the following weeks and months includes: a meeting of the EuroMed Team Leader with the National Road Safety Council in December 2017; the organization of a workshop on vehicles type approval and periodical inspections, to be hosted by the Ministry of Interior at the end of February 2018, followed by a study tour and visit of type approval and periodical technical inspections centers in Madrid, in April 2018; joint meetings of the Thematic Sub-committees with the EuroMed Transport Support Project team of Experts during the next mission of the team in Egypt (tentatively scheduled to take place in March 2018); the continuation of drafting of the Executive Regulations on all priority issues during the following months and the next mission.

The EuroMed Team is expected to continue offering Technical Assistance to Egypt in support of the country efforts of introducing the necessary reforms in the field of road transport.

 

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”11″ gal_title=”2nd mission in Egypt – 4-6/12/2017″]

 

 

 

A Workshop on the evaluation of the economic impact of the application of the Digital Tachograph took place in Tunis on 23 and 24 November.

Among the speakers and participants were representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Technical Agency for Terrestrial Transport, the Traffic Police, the National Guard, the Ministry of Economy, the “Borj Cendria” Tranport and Logistics Vocational Training Center, the National Agency of Legal Metrology.

During the Workshop, Tunisia’s commitment towards improving road safety conditions was reaffirmed and further strengthened through the intention of the application of the Digital Tachograph. “By taking a large technological step forward, with the introduction of the Digital Tachograph in the country, the level of road safety is going to raise, benefitting not only the professionals themselves, but the population as a whole. However, we should carefully consider how and when the implementation should take place, because of the potential impact it can have in the economy of the sector”, stated Mr. Fraj Ali, Director General, Land Transport Directorate, Ministry of Transport, Tunisia.

For this reason, the EuroMed Project supports Tunisia in the elaboration of an Economic Impact Assessment from the implementation of the Digital Tachograph in the country.

The Workshop concluded with the confirmation of the engagement and cooperation of all stakeholders in the country.

The presentation that was done during the Workshop can be found here.

 

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”10″ gal_title=”AETR Workshop – Tunisia (23-24/11/2017)”]

 

 

 

A workshop on Road Safety Data Quality took place in Tunis on November 22nd, with the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the National Road Safety Observatory, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Technology, Communications & Digital Economy. The objective of the workshop was the presentation of the current experiences and practices regarding road safety data collection in Tunis, and the identification of main weaknesses and areas for improvement.

“Reliable road safety data is a prerequisite for improving road safety. They are of paramount importance in order to identify the risks, decide on policies and measures for addressing them and evaluate the impact of the measures taken and save lives”, stated in his video message to the participants H.E. Mr Jean Todt, the Un Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety.  And added: “I encourage EuroMed partner countries to cooperate within the EuroMed Transport Support Project, to which I offer my full support”.

EuroMed Experts, as well as Experts from the key Authorities in Tunisia concerned with road safety data collection, including the Traffic Police, the National Road Safety Observatory and the Ministry of Health, provided insights on the status and challenges of road safety data in the country and discussed best European and international practices on the subject.

The Workshop concluded with the confirmation of the engagement of all stakeholders in the country and their determination to further intensify their efforts for the improvement of road safety data, with particular emphasis on the need for more systematic inter-sectoral cooperation and the identification of concrete follow-up actions in this direction.

The presentations made duing the Workshop can be found here.

 

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”9″ gal_title=”RSD Workshop – Tunisia, 22/11/2017″]

 

 

Mr. Jean Todt, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety is actively supporting the EuroMed Transport Support Project.

His full statement follows: “Dear friends, I express my support to the EU funded EuroMed Transport Support Project’s efforts to assist South Mediterranean Countries in setting up reliable, harmonized and comparable road safety data collection systems. In addition, to share their data at regional level. This is of major importance, as reliable road crash data are key to identifying risks, developing strategies and interventions to address those risks. Reliable data is also of paramount to evaluating impact and an indispensable tool for political decisions. However, the collection of credible data, is a major issue in the EuroMed region as in other parts of the world. The interest expressed by the global community in developing Road Safety Observatories in the Mediterranean is an important recent initiative, that could build on the results of this activity. Therefore, I encourage the EuroMed Partner Countries to cooperate within the EuroMed Transport Support Project”.

The EuroMed Transport Support Project implements a specific Activity. which consists of provision of TA on setting up road safety reliable, harmonized and comparable data collection system to EuroMed Partner Countries and sharing at regional level. Among the major objectives of this Activity would be to identify the methods of road safety data collection in the concerned Partner Countries (diagnosis); report on the existing best practices, methods and tools at national, European and international, including those of the European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO), the Community Road Accident Database (CARE), WHO, International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) of ITF-OECD, UNECE and UN SafeFits project; understand the differences of the gaps between WHO and national statistics of the concerned EuroMed Partner Countries and bridge them; while at the same time promote collection and processing of harmonized, credible and comparable road safety data in the region. In this regard, close cooperation with the national road safety statistical services and WHO, ERSO, CARE, IRTAD and UNECE is required and already being established.

Mr. Jean Todt, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety is actively supporting the Marrakesh Interagency Meeting on Road Safety Data, organised by the EuroMed Transport Support Project.