Opening Ceremony - Mr. Paul Laeremans

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

Opening Ceremony

Welcome address by the IRU President, Mr. Paul Laeremans

"Road transport, the driving force of all economies"

President, Ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends.

Allow me, on behalf of the IRU, to extend to all of you here today my warmest welcome to the IRU's 28th World Congress.

I have the privilege of knowing what’s in store for all of us and can tell you already that this will be a memorable event. 

For this, we owe many thanks from the outset to our Congress partners Mercedes Benz and Zurich Financial Services.

I would also like to thank right away our hosts, IRU’s Romanian member associations ARTRI and UNTR who, through their very gracious invitation and subsequent tireless efforts, have permitted us all to take part in what will be yet another great IRU World Congress. 

Having been in Voicu’s and Florinel’s shoes just 2 years ago in Brussels, I can empathise with the excitement, expectations and, yes, even fatigue that they are feeling right now!

Allow me also to publicly thank the Romanian Minister of Transport, Mr Miron Mitrea, who made this Congress possible thanks to his much appreciated co-operation and valued support.

Ladies and gentlemen, the theme of this Congress, “Emerging Markets: Challenges and Opportunities” will permit us, as an industry, to set a clear vision of how we will play our just role in allowing developing economies to accelerate their growth, employment and prosperity in a sustainable way.

Recall that IRU’s statutory role is indeed to contribute "...in the interest of society as a whole, to the development and prosperity, in all countries, of domestic and international road transport…”

This objective most aptly reminds us that it is our constitutional obligation to act for the common good, fully cognisant of our sector's irreplaceable role in uniting mankind and in better redistributing wealth by ensuring the sustainable mobility of people and goods.

This Congress will also enable us to recognise that while there will be many challenges to overcome to allow us to play our part in enabling emerging markets to reach their full potential, the opportunities will be far greater for those who are prepared to seize them. 

Beyond its high quality door-to-door services, road transport is the only mode, if not even sector, that permits high quality person-to-person relations.

Moreover, this unique link provides our industry with an opportunity to offer complimentary services to our clients, who have come to trust us and depend on our reliable quality service. 

Let us use this invaluable contact and our creativity to help emerging markets, but also to help our industry capitalise on the opportunities and grow stronger. 

Governments, and in particular the Transport Ministers here today, should know that the IRU and its members are willing to work in full partnership to tackle two of the most important practical issues facing our profession.

First and foremost, social regulations must be harmonised and strictly enforced to eliminate market distortions and, in so doing, allow all transport operators an equal chance on the market.  Moreover, we must rid our profession of those few who do not abide by the rules, who tarnish the professional image of the road transport industry, diminish safety on the roads and distort competition through their unlawful practices.

Second, and very much related to this, we must work together to introduce qualitative criteria for entering the profession that actually ensure quality!  Can you name me another profession where with only 9000 Euros and 2 weeks of training you can enter the profession?  These criteria must be reinforced and applied everywhere to ensure that those who do enter the market are first and foremost capable of providing the quality services that modern society and all economies are increasingly dependent on.  It will be the only to protect our profession, and society at large, from fly-by-night cowboys who cheat, degrade the profession and create unhealthy competition based on the lowest common denominator!     

This Congress is exceptional in light of the fact that many of our governmental partners were also in this very room, some 4 hours ago, attending the ECMT Ministerial Conference.

The presence today of so many Ministers is a powerful demonstration of their recognition that the IRU slogan, “Working together for a better future” is the most effective means of achieving our common economic, social and environmental objectives.

Also noteworthy is that the China Road Transport Association of the People’s Republic of China has just joined the IRU family.  China’s population of over 1.3 billion people, 1.3 million commercial passenger vehicles, 4.4 million commercial freight vehicles, 4.2 million transport operators and 13.6 million transport employees, make this a most historic development. We can, as you can all well imagine, anticipate a number of exciting changes in the years to come for not only the members of the CRTA, but for all IRU members who see the clear opportunities in this major market.  I would particularly like to welcome the important delegation here from the PRC, and would encourage the rest of you to start making your business contacts with the largest emerging market in the world on this great occasion.

How economies like China or Romania can take off will be our prime focus in the coming days.  It is our hope that these deliberations will not result in more words, but concrete actions and partnerships between the public and private sectors in all economies of the world, as there will be pragmatic lessons to be learned for all.

Our expert panellists will attempt to answer the following key questions:

How can road transport help emerging markets, and all economies, realise the challenge of achieving the economic, social and environmental goals of sustainable development?

Can transport operators translate the challenge of sustainable operations into the opportunity for greater profitability?

How will innovation, incentives and infrastructure drive sustainable development in underdeveloped, emerging and developed markets?

Can emerging markets realise their full potential without increasing their dependency on efficient road transport?

Is adequate road infrastructure a sine qua non condition for economies to emerge?

How can we ensure better transport instead of more traffic?

How can we build more fruitful partnerships with Customs and other relevant governmental Authorities to bring down barriers to trade, tourism and transport, and permit progress?

What challenges and opportunities await companies willing to work in partnership with emerging markets?

What opportunities will e-commerce and IT applications bring our profession and emerging markets?

Ladies and gentlemen, this Congress will allow us to open our eyes and minds to what we can achieve, by working together for a better future…for not only our profession, but for all citizens!

The core business of this Congress will be to answer these crucial questions and pave the way to effectively eliminating, from the perspective of the road transport industry, all which stands in the way of human progress in all economies.

Before giving the floor back to you John, let me remind participants that this Congress is for YOU.  We have designed the Congress to be even more interactive then in the past, including during this opening ceremony. I would thus encourage you all to take a very active role.  Note down your questions as you hear something that interests you and we will try our best to have your views heard.

[ top ]