Just five years since the General Assembly adopted, in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals, the world has experienced a global emergency of a proportion never before seen in peacetime due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its epidemiological and socioeconomic impacts. In an effort to respond to the pandemic, the general theme of the high-level policy segment to be held during the eighty-third session of the Inland Transport Committee will be “Back to a sustainable future: achieving resilient connectivity for post-COVID-19 sustained recovery and economic growth”.
11 a.m. - 11.20 a.m. OPENING STATEMENTS, WELCOME SPEECHES AND OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF PUBLICATION
Mr. Kristof Schockaert
Chair, Inland Transport Committee
Ms. Olga Algayerova
Executive Secretary, UNECE
Mr. Jean Todt
United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Road Safety
Mr. Yuwei Li
Director, Sustainable Transport Division, UNECE
11.20 a.m. - 11.35 a.m. KEYNOTE SPEECH
H.E. Ms. Adina-Ioana Vălean
European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport
11.35 a.m. - 12.20 PANEL I: LEVERAGING EXISTING INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS AS ENABLERS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT: WHAT ROOM FOR ENHANCED INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS?
MODERATOR
Mr. Young Tae Kim
Secretary-General, International Transport Forum (ITF)
SPEAKERS
H.E. Ms. Cora van Nieuwenhuizen
Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
H.E. Mr. Vladislav Kryklii
Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine
H.E. Mr. Emil Kaikiev
Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Eurasian Economic Commission
Dr. Kunio Mikuriya
Secretary General, World Customs Organization
Mr. Bill Halkias
President, International Road Federation (IRF)
Scheduled high-level interventions
- Mr. Adrian Covăsnianu, Secretary of State, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Romania
- Mr. Klaus Bonhoff, Director General, Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Germany
- Ms. Guanyu Li, Deputy Director-General of Department of International Cooperation, People's Republic of China
- Mr. Jan Hoffmann, Chief, Trade Logistics Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD
12.20 - 1 p.m. PANEL II: “FIRST OR LAST RESPONSE” IN A GLOBAL EMERGENCY? INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT CONVENTIONS AS A CATALYST OF CONCERTED NATIONAL RESPONSES
MODERATOR
Ms. Els De Wit
Chair, ITC Working Party on Transport Trends & Economics
SPEAKERS
H.E. Mr. François Bausch
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mobility and Public Works, Luxembourg
H.E. Mr. Moez Chakchouk
Minister of Transport and Logistics of Tunisia
Mr. Dmitry Zverev
State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation
Mr. Umberto De Pretto
Secretary General, Intern’l Road Transport Union (IRU)
Mr. François Davenne
Director-General, UIC
Scheduled high-level interventions
- Mr. Annadurdy Kosayev, Deputy Minister, Turkmen Sea and River Transport Agency, Turkmenistan
- Mr. Marcelo Sampaio Cunha Filho, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Infrastructure of Brazil
- Ms. Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General, Polis
- Mr. Michael Christides, Secretary General, BSEC
- Mr. Asset Assavbayev, Secretary General, TRACECA
- Ms. Theresia Hacksteiner, Secretary General, European Barge Union (EBU)
1 p.m. ENDORSEMENT OF THE MINISTERIAL RESOLUTION ON “ENHANCING RESILIENT INLAND TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS: AN URGENT CALL FOR CONCERTED ACTION”
Ministerial Resolution
At the end of the high-level policy segment, ministers and other heads of delegations of contracting parties to the United Nations conventions under the purview of the ITC will be invited to express their support for a Ministerial Resolution entitled “Enhancing resilient inland transport connectivity in emergency situations: an urgent call for concerted action”. Signatories to the resolution will take stock of the global emergency under way, recognize the unique strengths of the Committee and articulate an urgent call for the contracting parties to take concerted action in the face of international emergencies, in terms relevant to the Committee’s mandates.