Opening Ceremony - Ion Iliescu

IRU XXVIII^th World Congress
Under the Patronage of the President of Romania, Ion Iliescu

Opening Ceremony

(Represented by Mr Angelescu)

Ion Iliescu
President of Romania

"Taking the right road to allow markets to emerge"

Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen, participants and guests,

Allow me to salute the participants and guests in the XXVIIIth IRU World Congress, and to welcome the distinguished representatives of the international community, the business environment, as well as of all the Romanian and international organizations attending.

The organization in Bucharest of this Congress on “Emerging Markets: Challenges and Opportunities”, as a result of the collaboration between several international organizations, the Romanian authorities, and professional associations in the transport sector, demonstrates Romania’s availability to participate actively in the progress of this domain, which is vital for the development of the world economy. Hoping to achieve a more prosperous future, Romania understands that road transport can play a key role in achieving its economic and social objectives.

I think that sustainable development, which can bring countries and regions closer together, can unite people and improve the distribution of goods and services, cannot be achieved without a high quality, safe, efficient and environment-friendly road transport that can facilitate market expansion, trade, tourism and public transport.

The road infrastructure of Romania is quite strong. Our success in organizing rehabilitation and upgrading programs of that infrastructure, including a motorway network, which should be integrated into the European corridors, as well as our capacity to use well the opportunities made available by the new technologies, in compliance with European and international standards, will contribute to speeding up Romania’s regional and international integration, to the free movement of goods and people, to enhancing the economic flows between and among countries, not only in Europe, but also across a much wider geographic area.

Let me express my appreciation for the activities conducted by the International Road Transport Union and the national road transport associations, among them the Romanian Association for International Road Transport and the National Union of Road Transport in Romania, in order to support the effective operation of the TIR system in Romania, as an important element of economic and social development, which has always contributed to enhancing commercial exchanges, and has also become a necessary instrument for the Romanian economy to be able to join the market expansion process.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The capacity to keep up with the current tendencies in international trade, where information technology and communication are playing an increasingly important part, represents one of the essential factors for reducing in a brief interval the disparities that separate Romania from the more developed countries. As a candidate country for integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures, we are fully aware that a substantial improvement of the quality of road transport is a basic component in speeding up the negotiations conducted with a view to Romania’s accession to the European Union and our participation to market globalization, while also considering the requirement of securing gains to all participants.

Integration is a process that presupposes both costs and benefits. This is why the objectives of maximizing the benefits and minimizing the costs of integration in the Romanian road transport system are important short-, medium- and long-term targets in our strategies and actions in the field.

The IRU position – which favors a step-by-step expansion of the European Union, is also in line with our country’s intention to go through the well-defined stages of legislative and institutional harmonization with the community acquis in all domains, including road transport, in order to be able to reach a level where integration can be a success for both parties involved. I hope that our effort to rehabilitate and upgrade our road infrastructure, to acquire high performance vehicles and equipment for road diagnosis and repair, to simplify the customs procedures and to bring in line our road charges with European standards will all contribute to opening up the European transport market to both Romanian and international operators, in conditions of fair competition.

Allow me to wish full success to this edition of the IRU World Congress, and to express my hopes that the debates on the challenges and opportunities related to road transport, which currently has to cope with expanding markets, will be useful to all participants and will be a good opportunity for finding solutions. I also hope that the Final Declaration to be adopted by the Congress will be a landmark for the future development of the field.

Thank you for your attention.

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