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Bart van Bolhuis Bio

Bart van Bolhuis

Director for International Affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment will talk on: 

"From vision to reality: Dutch EU Presidency priorities on sustainable mobility and synergies with the work of the Inland Transport Committee and UNECE"

Short Bio

Since September 2013 Bart is Director for International Affairs at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. From 2009 to 2013  Bart, being based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, was Consul General for Netherlands in the western part of the United States, focusing on mutual investments in innovation,  water management, energy, food, nutrition, life science, health and creative industries. From 2003 to 2009 Bart was Director for Foreign Trade and Investment at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Secretary of the Dutch Trade Board, being at the forefront of private-public cooperation designed to increase Dutch competitiveness in globalizing markets. 

Bart has been involved in the creation of the European Market and the Economic and Monetary Union, in assisting new member states in Eastern Europe to adapt to EU requirements, in positioning Dutch business in these developing markets and in leading the successful introduction of the Euro currency in the Netherlands. Throughout his career in the eighties and nineties Bart held several functions at the Netherlands Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs and Finance.

Mr Bart van Bolhuis holds a Master’s Degree in International Law from the University of Amsterdam

Summary of presentation

We are on the brink of a new industrial era and innovation will help us seize new opportunities to boost competitive strength. Innovation in automated and connected driving will have a huge impact on the challenges that we face today. In the field of transport and logistics, we will see more changes in the next twenty years than in the entire past century.

Despite the accelerated pace of innovation in transport technologies, there are numerous types of exclusions that undermine the realization of the aspirations of the global community enshrined in the SDGs. In order to maintain – or gain – public support, we need to unite and take action: working together on smarter regulation and on good implementation. We need smart regulations and legislation to create new opportunities to boost competitive strength. What will happen if we don’t work together? Europe’s railways are a good example. They were built separately in each country. The result is big technical differences.

Closer cooperation in the Pan European Region is needed and collaborating closely with UNECE and the Inland Transport Committee during the Dutch EU Presidency is a key to success. What we need is a common and not a fragmented approach. To achieve that we will need to answer a lot of questions, including: compatibility of systems; harmonization of regulation; data ownership and privacy; large-scale testing across borders; coordination of investments.

As a first step towards a broad and fruitful cooperation across Europe, the Netherlands proposes to sign a declaration on automated and connected driving by the EU transport ministers in April 2016.