Speeches: Martin Marmy, IRU Secretary General

"Long-distance road transport services will grow out of national and regional integration of groups of countries. This is the aim also within this region of Asia which has a second important mission: building the bridge between Europe and the Far East as well as India and Indo-China in trade and transport alike."

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by Martin Marmy
IRU Secretary General

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

Let me begin by also expressing my many thanks to all those involved in organising this event in Iran and for your exemplary cooperation with the IRU.

While only 2-3% of a country's GDP can usually be attributed to road transport, which is comparable to the contribution of agriculture in developed economies and some 5-6% of an economy's labour force is dedicated to the transport sector and road transport related logistic activities, it is most relevant to note that road transport and economic growth, as measured by GDP, are mutually dependent as the IRU's Road Transport Indices demonstrate very clearly. Moreover, I would challenge anyone to name a good at home, at your office, or here today that has not been on a truck at some point during its production and distribution process! Indeed, we could even argue that every job, in one way or another is dependent on road transport!

Why do I say this? Because even for us in the business of road transport sometimes overlook or forget the immense impact our services have on the proper functioning of every economy, and on the daily lives of all! We must be the first to understand this. It is then the task of political decision makers to recognise this irreplaceable role road transport plays in all societies, and put in place policies that help our industry help others!

Opponents of progress often target the success of the road transport industry and trade growth, which are the consequence of evolving production processes, namely globalisation. This internationalisation of social and economic development and processes cannot be stopped just as we cannot stop the world from turning, especially since the main drivers are all of us, the consumers! Along with greater choice, cheaper products, higher profits etc, globalisation is also synonymous with the opening of borders, the further integration of markets, the free flow of capital, goods and services as well as labour across national frontiers.

But we are far from a perfect world. There should be a general framework set by Governments and international institutions which help shape developments and keep the negative side-effects of globalisation to a minimum.

This applies also to international road transport, which is the main land carrier of short and medium distance trade in the World. Over the last decades, the IRU has favoured the replacement of restrictive quantitative regulations in favour of qualitative regulations for our profession. The quantitative restrictions, while they favour the few in the business, are not favourable for trade and transport growth.

However, there must be strict and enforceable qualitative requirements, such as a minimum level of available capital per vehicle employed, a high level of training and testing of employees, whether white or blue collar, and the good repute of a company's managers in the legal sense, to ensure that the quality of a company is tangible, and that such an additional player to the market would actually add value.

It must be emphasised that the transfer from a rigid and quantitatively over-regulated framework cannot happen from one day to the other. Time is a very important factor and the IRU has always been for the step-by-step implementation of all transitory measures to allow all players an equal chance on the market and to adapt to the changing rules of the game. Such an approach minimises the pains of transition in accordance with local conditions which should be taken into account to the extent possible.

Globalisation of road transport should start with the development of a healthy carrier sector in the countries themselves, which with the development of regional trade would spill over into reinforced regional transport cooperation among neighbouring countries with two parallel processes being introduced: step-by-step harmonisation of qualitative conditions of market competition together with the introduction of facilitation measures aimed at dismantling quantitative and bureaucratic barriers to international trade and transport by road.

Long-distance road transport services will grow out of this solid basis of national and regional integration of groups of countries. This is the aim also within this region of Asia which has a second important mission: building the bridge between Europe and the Far East as well as India and Indo-China in trade and transport alike.

Let us work together to achieve this goal! Thank you for your attention.

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