Road Safety of utmost importance in the Mashreq region: United Nations

Delegates from across the Arab Mashreq will gather to discuss the establishment of a regional road safety partnership based on a proposal from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA), Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and Shell. The workshop on Establishing the Arab Mashreq Road Safety Partnership, will take place at the Sheraton Hotel, Doha, Qatar on 21 - 22 October, 2008 The workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Interior of the Government of Qatar, will propose regional partnership - or ‘centre of excellence’ - to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and synchronize road safety efforts throughout the region. ‘Road safety is clearly an issue of governmental, public and business concern,’ said Bassam Anani, First Economic Affairs Officer, UN ESCWA. ‘We see many good-practice initiatives from governments, businesses, and civil society groups throughout the region - why spend time, money and resources to ‘re-invent’ perfectly good materials that could quite easily be adapted for use elsewhere?’ Globally, road traffic crashes are estimated to kill about 1.2 million people each year, which is approximately 3000 people every day. In addition, the number of people injured in road traffic crashes each year is estimated to be as high as 50 million – the combined population of five of the world’s largest cities. According to the World Report on Road Traffic Injury, the Eastern Mediterranean region has the highest road traffic fatality rate per 100,000. Furthermore, road crashes in the Middle East region are estimated to cost $7.4 billion annually (around 1.5% of GNP) and, worryingly, road traffic fatalities are expected to rise by up to 68% by 2020. Mr. Anani explains: ‘The Partnership intends to ask two key questions of interested members: What do I need? And what could I offer others? By working in a broad partnership, we hope that many of the ‘needs’ can be addressed efficiently using existing approaches or materials. Where there are gaps, we hope that governments and/or businesses can work together, therefore saving time and money, to develop materials that can subsequently be used by all members of the Partnership’. Government delegates from 14 ESCWA countries will be attending the workshop in Doha, along with representatives from numerous non-governmental organizations and more than 20 of the region’s most well-known businesses. Should you need more information about the workshop, or feel that your organization could contribute to the Partnership, please contact: Ms. Nelly El Ghossaini Transport Team, UN ESCWA E-mail: el-ghossaini@un.org Office: +961 1 978348 Mobile: +961 3 955168 Qatar no: +974 684 8634/ +974 603 2304