The Inland Transport Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission on Europe (UNECE) celebrated its 75th Anniversary on February 22, 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, was invited to be a keynote speaker of the opening session. In his speech, Minister Edghill highlighted the important role of transport as an enabler of sustainable development, and the need for more integrated approach to policy making, including planning for land use, infrastructure development, public transport systems and good delivery networks for the provision of affordable, efficient, safe and secure transport.
The ITC is the UN platform for inland transport, and has a strong focus on road safety, including eight key legal instruments covering issues such as traffic rules, road signs, vehicle regulations, the transport of dangerous goods, and professional driver fatigue. To commemorate the anniversary, UNECE launched the publication “75 Years of Inland Transport Committee – 75 Documents that Changed the World of Transport,” which tells the story of the ITC and its evolution from 1947 when it was founded in the aftermath of WWII to oversee the reconstruction of transport within Europe, to today where the committee manages the most significant legal instruments in the history of inland transport.
These legal instruments, which are among the 75 documents featured, have shaped inland transport throughout the globe, making it safer, more sustainable, and more inclusive. Guyana is a signatory to two of the 59 legal instruments: Convention on Road Signs and Signals, of 8 November 1968 and the Convention on Road Traffic, of 8 November 1968.
One of the highlights of the event was the signing of the Ministerial Resolution to Usher in a decade of delivery of sustainable inland transport and sustainable development. Minster Edghill, as the head of delegation, signed the resolution on behalf of Guyana.
Guyana’s delegation also included Mr. Patrick Thompson, Chief Transport Planning Officer of the Ministry of Public Works and Ms. Kerrlene Wills, Chargé d’affaires of Guyana’s Permanent Mission in Geneva.
