24 February 2023 – 15:00 – 18:00 CET
Room XIX, Palais des Nations, Geneva, in-person only
I. DRAFT PROGRAMME
II. TARGET AUDIENCE
Inland Transport Committee delegates and representatives from ministries of transport and other relevant authorities, Permanent Missions of member States to the United Nations in Geneva , international organizations, academic institutions, NGOs, think tanks and private sector organizations.
III. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE
Recent years have witnessed several subsequent external shocks to the international transport system and by extension the whole global value chain. From early 2020 onwards, the pandemic has affected shipping companies’ operations along the entire supply chain and across the various transport subsectors, resulting in congestions at land border crossings and maritime ports, labour shortages, a steep increase of maritime shipping costs due to container and work force shortages as well as lack of warehouse space and logistics services.
As of February 2022, the consequences of the pandemic were further exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and its resulting blockade of the country’s Black Sea Ports in combination with the large-scale destruction of transport infrastructure and the abrupt disruption of transit possibilities by road, rail, or inland waterways.
Important external factors featuring in the background of these geopolitical transformations include the increased pressure on the transport sector to decarbonize, the strong push for digitalization and automation of transport processes as well as the growing necessity considering increased extreme weather events, to adapt existing transport infrastructure assets to climate change challenges.
IV. OBJECTIVES
The 2023 Inland Transport Committee round table will allow participants to exchange views on how to tackle the many challenges faced by the sector, including:
- National and international experiences regarding regional versus global sourcing, the role of the transport sector as a whole and of inland transport specifically.
- How to strengthen resilience of transport networks and nodes, including resilience to climate change hazard, geo-political emergencies and to pandemics.
- Opportunities for building forward better – sustainable local and global transport connectivity solutions through technological innovation, education, and partnerships.
Presentations
The geography of trade and supply chain reconfiguration: implications for trade, global value chains and transport (Jan Hoffmann - UNCTAD)
Trade Flow Reconfigurations At Times Of International Volatility: Global Versus Regional Sourcing (Victor Stolzenburg - WTO)
Importance of global instruments supporting transport in improving resilience of supply chains (Tatiana Rey-Bellet - IRU)
Mobility, what for? - On the 50th anniversary of “The Limits to Growth” (Carlos Alvarez Pereira - The Club of Rome)
Enabling Sustainable Resilient Value Chains through Education (Elaine Moran - EPFL)
Cargo sous terrain (Carmen Bachmann - Cargo sous terrain)
The future of the automotive industry: decarbonization & automation (Fabio Ferrante)
Sustainable freight forwarding: Navigating the challenges and opportunities of a greener future (Sofia Aiche - FIATA)