Skip to main content

Transport Ministers declare determination to improve global connectivity

“Seamless transport is a powerful and ambitious strategic vision for the future of transport systems,” Transport Ministers from 53 member countries stated in a common declaration agreed at the annual Summit of the International Transport Forum on Seamless Transport: Making Connections in Leipzig, Germany. Seamless transport, the declaration says, “drives the development of better mobility and sustainable economic growth”.
May 4, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS“Seamless transport is a powerful and ambitious strategic vision for the future of transport systems,” Transport Ministers from 53 member countries stated in a common declaration agreed at the annual summit of the 998 International Transport Forum on Seamless Transport: Making Connections in Leipzig, Germany. Seamless transport, the declaration says, “drives the development of better mobility and sustainable economic growth”.

In their declaration, the Ministers also emphasised that sustainable transport systems are important for economic prosperity, environmental protection, safety and security of society.

“The International Transport Forum once again underlined that it is the worldwide, leading platform to discuss transport issues,” said Michael Kloth, acting secretary-general of the International Transport Forum. “We are glad about the commitment of our member countries to cooperate even closer to reduce inefficiencies at the seams between transport modes, jurisdictions, systems, sectors and countries. In this way, the transport sector can become a real driver for economic growth.”

At the Summit, Ministerial Roundtables with selected participants also discussed the issues of piracy at sea, cruise ship safety, volcanic ash clouds and the future of the car. Three of these Ministerial Roundtables issued Joint Statements which were noted by the Ministerial meeting and were annexed to the declaration.

The Ministerial meeting also welcomed Chile, the first country from South America joining the global transport policy body, as the 54th member country of the International Forum.

In their meeting, Ministers also elected Professor Jose Manuel Viegas from Portugal as secretary-general-elect of the Forum. Viegas is expected to take up his office this summer, taking over from acting secretary-general Michael Kloth.

The International Transport Forum is an intergovernmental organisation within the OECD family that acts as a global transport policy think tank. The annual Summit included a Ministerial meeting, panel discussions with leaders from business, research and civil society as well as bilateral and informal meetings.

Headlined “Funding Transport”, the next Summit of the International Transport Forum is scheduled to take place 22-24 May in Leipzig.

For a full programme and videos of key events at this year’s Forum, visit www.internationaltransportforum.org/2012

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • RFQ for Knik Arm Crossing toll bridge in Alaska
    April 19, 2012
    The Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for concessionaires to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain the Knik Arm Crossing under an availability payment public-private partnership. Statements of Qualifications (SOQ) are due 15 September, 2011 at 4:00PM Alaska Daylight Saving Time. The RFQ can be downloaded at http://notes4.state.ak.us/pn/pubnotic.nsf or interested parties can receive the RFQ by contacting Michele Casey at michele.casey@alaska
  • First among equals
    May 21, 2012
    Dr Peter Sweatman, Director of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and the new chairman of ITS America, has no doubt where safety stands in the ITS world What do you hope to achieve in your term as chairman of ITS America? I really want to advance the agenda of safe and sustainable transportation because ITS really is the only weapon that can advance that. We have been working on connected vehicles for safety for a number of years, putting all of the right elements in place,
  • Banks' statement aims to cut road deaths
    November 23, 2020
    Pledge from world's bankers aimed at reducing the 1.25 million lives lost on roads each year
  • EU supports key TEN-T infrastructure projects
    July 31, 2014
    In the last Calls of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) Programme, the European Commission selected a total of 106 projects that will benefit from over US$428 million in EU support for improving transport infrastructure across Europe. The 52 projects selected from the 2013 Multi-Annual Call and 54 from the 2013 Annual Call will use the EU’s financial support to bring forward the completion of the TEN-T network as well as studying innovative ways of reducing the transport sector’s carbon footprint.