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Participating in ITS World Congress in Bordeaux

The Special Envoy participated at the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress, specifically in the UNECE session on “Sustainable Mobility and the Mitigation of Climate Change”
The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, highlighted convergences between road safety and the pursuance of cleaner mobility, insisting on the interdependence of the solutions to be implemented to improve either one of these areas, during the ITS World Congress, held in Bordeaux, France from 5 to 9 October 2015.
Todt also emphasized the role of intelligent transport systems in the process: “ITS are a major enabler: ITS are tools that will change the transport culture, tools that can curb excess and unnecessary polluting, highly enhance the safety of individuals and goods in the transportation ecosystem, improve mobility, mitigate traffic congestion and thus contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions.”
Christian Friis Bach, UNECE Secretary Executive and Eva Molnar, Director of UNECE’s Sustainable Transport Division were also in attendance to deliver remarks. The discussion went on over the morning, as other panellists from the private and the public sector delivered presentations on the road towards a more intelligent mobility. Participants agreed that environmental efficiency and safer cars and infrastructures were building blocks of equal importance to reduce emissions. Accessibility & affordability were also part of the debate.
Finally, on the issue of ITS deployment. The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety emphasized that ITS were first and foremost a consumer-oriented matter, and that progress would be ensured through grassroots-inspired partnerships. He stated: “From a consumer perspective, ITS deployment should be acceptable, convenient, reliable, robust, safe & secure, cost effective and fair.  The broader consumer community has been working with the governments and the ITS community around the world to make sure that only new technology, reflecting these criteria, are deployed”.