On 3 December 2021, the Special Envoy delivered virtually opening remarks to the High-Level Preparatory Meeting for the HLM, which focused on international and domestic financing for road safety in its morning session. In his remarks, the Special Envoy noted that road crashes can cripple economies, especially in low- and middle-income countries, where development has boosted vehicle ownership and expansion of roads, but road safety measures have not kept pace. The Special Envoy called for better understanding of domestic and international spending on road safety, and of the capacity and needs of countries, and thanked Ministries of Finance who shared their current expenditures on road safety. It is estimated that fatal and nonfatal crash injuries will cost the world economy approximately $1.8 trillion dollars (USD) from 2015–2030, which is equivalent to an annual tax of 0.12% on global GDP. According to the WB, in some of the most affected countries, the annual GDP loss is up to 6%.