Ireland holds presidency of the International Transport Forum

Ireland will chair 62 countries at the International Transport Forum (ITF) Virtual Summit, the largest gathering of transport ministers, which commences today (Monday). The ITF Summit takes place from the 17th – 28th of May and will see transport ministers, policy makers and researchers from around the world meet virtually to discuss the future of transport.

Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan TD will give the opening address at the Summit while a number of Irish speakers from the transport industry will lead the dialogue across various sessions. The theme for this year’s virtual event is ‘Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development’ which will explore how innovation will play an important role in responding to the challenges posed by both climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Transport, said: “We are privileged to hold the presidency of the International Transport Forum for 2021 and look forward to working collaboratively with international colleagues over the next couple of weeks. The Summit will allow us to discuss how we can collectively address the key challenges facing the global transport sector today and take advantage of the opportunities provided by innovations in technology and policy design which will be crucial in allowing us to travel, safely and efficiently into the future.”

The Summit programme will run over two weeks and will include:

• Rachel Cahill, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) who will speak at the session on Innovation for gender equality: A user’s perspective.

• Ken Spratt, Secretary General of the Department of Transport will chair a discussion with Rachel Cahill, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII, Anne Graham, National Transport Authority, Alan Murphy, Smart Dublin and Ewan Delany, Ministry of Transport, New Zealand at the Irish country event: Ireland - The Greener Path – A people centred approach to a sustainable island

• Jens Altmann, Enterprise Ireland, Alan Farrelly, Cityswift, Andrew Fleury, Luna Systems, Mike Manchip, Anadue and Sharon Masterson, International Transport Forum will be showcasing solutions to urban mobility at the event: Innovation Network – Irish technologies for smarter urban mobility

To find out more about the ITF Summit, visit www.2021.itf-oecd.org and to follow the livestream of a number of sessions, visit www.youtube.com/IntTransportForum .

ENDS