Opening Ceremony - Miron Tudor Mitrea

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

Opening Ceremony

Miron Tudor Mitrea
Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of Romania

"Removing impediments to tourism and trade: sine qua non conditions for progress"

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to warmly welcome you all upon the opening of the XXVIIIth IRU World Congress in Bucharest.

An efficient road transport sector is a sine qua non pre-requisite for economic development. In the absence of this mode of transport, even the most promising and fast growing markets cannot fully capitalize on their potential.

As set out in the governing programme spanning 2000-2004 and in the strategy for the development of transport in general and of road transport in particular, the Romanian Government is to allocate substantial funds to the road transport infrastructure in the next 2 years.

Romania is aware of the considerable efforts, particularly financial ones, that need to be made in order to implement programmes for the building, rehabilitation and development of the transport infrastructure, especially for those sections of Trans-European Corridors IV and IX that cross her territory.

While the Romanian Government places plans to invest in road transport at the very core of its concerns, in order to achieve a medium and long-term sustainable development of this sector, there is also need for support to be given by the European Union. Unfortunately, right now the European Union is almost exclusively interested in railway projects. In this context, we appreciate that the railway sector has indeed a critical role to play in economic growth, yet priority when developing the transport infrastructure should be given to road transport.

It is worth noting that in all OECD countries, goods and passengers are mainly transported by road at present. Likewise, according to forecasts, the future enlarged market of the European Union will be the biggest of the world, while road transport is going to be the backbone of this market and the engine of eastward and southward expansion of tourism and trade.

I hope that participants in this Congress have fruitful debates on topics such as challenges and opportunities of road transport, promoting the principle of sustainable development, the role of infrastructure, the importance of customs facilities, the impact of new technologies and of marketing methods on road transport.

Let me reiterate my appreciation for the tremendous efforts made by the organizers of the XXVIIIth IRU World Congress in Bucharest, the preparatory work for this event having been an important test for all those concerned.

On this occasion, let me extend my best wishes and thoughts to the participants in this Congress, that will definitely open up new prospects and will pave the way for further significant progress in the evolution of the organization.

[ top ]