Skip to main content

First Middle East ITS conference and exhibition

The first Middle East conference and exhibition on ITS, held in December 2006 in Dubai, was opened by His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Al- Mogbel, the president of ITS Arab and Deputy Minister of Transport, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two-day conference, the theme of which was 'Shaping the Future with ITS Solutions', focused on traffic safety, congestion, security and demand management. H.E Eng. Abdullah Al-Mogbel said, "ITS Arab will play a vital role in the development of sustainable ITS deployments across t
March 12, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
The first Middle East conference and exhibition on ITS, held in December 2006 in Dubai, was opened by His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Al- Mogbel, the president of 1697 ITS Arab and Deputy Minister of Transport, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The two-day conference, the theme of which was 'Shaping the Future with ITS Solutions', focused on traffic safety, congestion, security and demand management.

H.E Eng. Abdullah Al-Mogbel said, "ITS Arab will play a vital role in the development of sustainable ITS deployments across the Middle East and North Africa in partnership with the regional and international ITS community".

Fabrizio Minarini, Head of Sector, Intelligent Car Initiative, 1690 European Commission, praised ITS Arab and expressed support from the European Commission to the conference.
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Member: "It is now an accepted policy across all the main political parties in the United Kingdom that ITS is an absolute must. The problem we have is that we are not sure what ITS means, why we are doing it, and we have not fully developed an integrated approach." Barnes shared his experience in policy development that provided thought-provoking debates and provided a political balance from a European perspective. His contribution provided the link between ITS and security, reinforcing the importance of developing and communicating clear ITS policy objectives to the wider public.

Barnes's view was echoed by the Dr Essam Sharaf, former Minister of Transport, Egypt, who suggested the use of asset management systems as an approach to communicating ITS objectives and benefits to politicians and the general public. Dr Sharaf added, "Studies from around the world have concluded that the transport infrastructure satisfies both the natural human desire to mobility, as well as being vital for economical prosperity, and therefore ranks transport infrastructure as one of the most important projects." "The key word is integration, by marrying transport infrastructure with ITS technologies we will see a completely new type of transport infrastructure that looks the same but will provide a new way of delivering mobility function." The business case for ITS benefits was reinforced by Riyadh Dabbo, Managing Director, Arab Road Safety Organisation, when he presented the shocking statistics regarding human losses, which show that within the Arab countries there are 32,000 traffic fatalities every year. Worldwide the transport fatalities total 1.2 million with 12 million injuries. "In terms of human losses, we have a 9/11 every day around the world," Dabbo said.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.nfm-bauma.de www.nfm-bauma.de false http://www.nfm-bauma.de/ false false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Battery bottleneck: EV roll-out at risk
    June 17, 2019
    In order for the take-up of electric vehicles – a key part of the future mobility mix - to grow, we need batteries. And that might prove tricky, reports Graham Anderson Industry and commodities experts fear that the growth in electric vehicles (EVs) could be much slower than predicted due to bottlenecks in global battery market supply chains. “People seem to think that the switch from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles just means you plug your car in rather than fill it with petrol,” a
  • Viajeo Plus sustainable urban mobility showcase
    October 31, 2014
    Viajeo Plus, an EC funded FP7 international cooperation project for implementation of innovative and efficient urban mobility solutions, has organised a City Showcase in Chengdu Heritage Park, China, on 11 November. The event aims at facilitating knowledge exchange and experience sharing between China and Europe on sustainable urban mobility. It will gather technical experts, policy makers and researchers to present their achievements on sustainable urban mobility solutions, to discuss their needs and to
  • Asecap: Road safety is a shared responsibility
    March 23, 2018
    Road safety is a shared responsibility of roads, vehicles and users, according to a key message delivered at Asecap’s Annual Safety Conference, in Brussels. The event provided an opportunity for road stakeholders to discuss the main safety priorities of the new mobility package to be presented by the European Commission (EC) next May. Additionally, the conference found that modern toll roads are the safest roads in Europe. The European Parliament and the EC blessed the memorandum of understanding
  • CHAMP final workshop
    June 12, 2014
    The European Cycling Heroes Advancing sustainable Mobility Practice (CHAMP) project will come to an end in September 2014. The final workshop takes place in Gent, Belgium on 11-12 September. The CHAMP project brings together leading cities in the field of cycling. Within the project, they have looked at innovative ways to further boost cycling in their cities and enhance local policies. CHAMP has developed and tested a performance analysis tool, building on self-analysis as well as peer review by ot