United Nations kick-off actions promoting Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for sustainable mobility

Saturday 17 December 2011 > 00:31

During the last EasyWay Annual Forum in Rome Mrs. Molnar, director of the transport division of UN-ECE, invited the EW community to the UN-ECE policy segment on ITS. Please find hereinafter a few details.

You are all invited to join the United Nations kick-off debate on ITS for sustainable mobility, on 28 February 2012 from 15h00 to 18h00 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.*

High-level speakers, governments, experts and academia from all the around the world will come together to put ITS on the policy makers agenda and to contribute to the policy-segment and launch of the UNECE strategy package on ITS that is expected to mark a milestone for future United Nations activities on ITS. The strategy package contains three different publications dealing with a general overview on ITS, a strategic note looking at the gaps and impediments to the use of ITS and the UNECE Road Map on ITS identifying 20 global actions to be performed by UNECE until 2020.

Be there and be part of the global kick-off that will focus around the Rio+20 goals, road safety, regional integration and leapfrogging development as well as possible ITS values for a better society. One action of the "UNECE Road Map on ITS" is that UNECE will host yearly Round tables on ITS where we aim to unbundle all the different issues and dig deeper into the matter.

We believe that there is the need to accelerate improvements in the use of ITS as much as linking it to the bigger policy agenda where, e.g. pollution, poverty and urbanization are involved and to develop policy indicators.

Intelligent Transport Systems play an important role in shaping the future ways of mobility and the transport sector. We expect that through the use of ITS applications transport will become more efficient, safer and greener. The huge potentials and benefits however can only be reaped if ITS solutions are put in place – internationally harmonized as much as possible.

Our research has shown that ITS are under-utilized and already today we witness the development of different standards around the world and its regions as well as the appearance of diverse liability problems. The core objective of the UNECE strategy on ITS is to lobby for new actions and policies where ITS improve the quality of life and make sustainable mobility available across borders.

Given the importance of the debate at the ITS policy segment your personal participation would be most appreciated. I believe that the kick-off event will offer a unique opportunity to meet politicians, government officials, private sector and academia representatives.

The meeting will be conducted in English, French and Russian with simultaneous translation.

Should you require more information, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Anastasia Barinova (tel: +41 22 917 2761; e-mail: anastasia.barinova@unece.org) or Ms. Dörte Schramm (tel: +41 22 917 3410; e-mail: doerte.schramm@unece.org).