THE
REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRANSPORT AND THE
ENVIRONMENT STARTS ITS DELIBERATIONS
(12-14 November
1997, Board room, Vienna International Centre)
12
November 1997
On 12 November
1997, Mr. Martin BARTENSTEIN, Austrian Minister for
Environment, Youth and Family Affairs, Mr. Caspar EINEM,
Austrian Minister for Science and Transport, and Mr. Yves
BERTHELOT, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), will inaugurate the first
Regional Conference on Transport and the Environment
organized by the UN/ECE in cooperation with the Government of
Austria. More than 40 ministers of transport or environment
will participate in the Conference. The regional Conference
is expected to adopt a Declaration and a Joint Programme of
Action. These documents should be a milestone of a new era
for regional cooperation in the field of transport and
environment. Two legally binding texts to improve the
environmental performance of the transport sector will be
signed on the occasion of the Conference and two other legal
texts with the same objective will also be endorsed by the
Conference.
The programme
of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Regional Conference on Transport and the Environment will
include:
Adoption of
the Declaration and the Joint Programme of Action (ECE/RCTE/CONF./2 & 3)
These two
documents have been the subject of intensive negotiations
during the last months. The Declaration outlines the common
strategy of the Governments members of the ECE for dealing
with the challenges ahead regarding transport and the
environment and signals the intention of the Governments to
take appropriate steps for the implementation of such
strategy. The text is structured in two parts: a preambular
part, which recalls the basis for action; and an operative
part, structured in nine chapters, which sets up the
objectives to be pursued and the measures to be taken in a
number of major transport areas for action.
Structured in
almost the same Chapters of issues as the Draft Declaration
of the Conference, the Draft Programme of Joint Action
contains a programme of activities to be undertaken by ECE
Governments and other interested parties, both at national
and international level, in order to improve the
environmental performance of the transport sector.
General
debate
The General
debate will focus on major issues concerning transport and
the environment in the ECE region, such as the strategic
approach towards sustainable transport: reconciling economic,
environmental and social objectives; establishing
environmental targets for the transport sector and ways to
achieve them; achieving sustainable transport in countries in
transition; how to best promote less polluting modes of
transport.
Legal texts
to improve the environmental performance of the transport
sector
On the
occasion of the Regional Conference UN/ECE countries will
sign two international legally binding instruments to improve
the environmental performance of the transport sector namely,
the Protocol on Combined Transport on Inland Waterways to the
European Agreement on Important International Combined
Transport Lines and Related Installations (AGTC) of 1991
(ECE/TRANS/122) and the Agreement concerning the Adoption of
Uniform Conditions for Periodical Technical Inspections of
Wheeled Vehicles and the Reciprocal Recognition of such
Inspections (ECE/RCTE/CONF./4).
Additionally,
the Conference will endorse two other legal texts, namely the
draft Addendum 1 - Rule No. 1 on Uniform Provisions for
Periodical Technical Inspections of Wheeled Vehicles with
regard to the Protection of the Environment
(ECE/RCTE/CONF./5) and the Draft Amendments to the 1971
European Agreement supplementing the 1968 Vienna Convention
on Road Traffic (ECE/RCTE/CONF./6).
Press
conference
Mr. Martin
BARTENSTEIN, Austrian Minister for Environment, Youth and
Family Affairs, Mr. Caspar EINEM, Austrian Minister for
Science and Transport, Mr. Yves BERTHELOT, Executive
Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UN/ECE), will hold a press conference to close the
first regional Conference on Transport and the Environment.
It will be held on Friday, 14 November 1997 at 11.30 a.m. in
the board room of the VIC.