Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba-Senior Reporter
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and his delegation are this week expected to attend the 88th session of the United Nations Inland Transport Committee meeting.
The meeting will run from February 17 to 20, in Geneva, Switzerland.
The minister will be accompanied by the ministry’s legal adviser, Advocate Kingston Magaya, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe board chairperson Mr Kura Sibanda, TSCZ managing director Mr Munesu Munodawafa, and other senior Government officials.
The ITC is the UN platform for inland transport, designed to efficiently address global and regional needs in the sector.
This year’s session is being held amid significant transformation within both the United Nations system and the global transport sector.
The high-level segment focuses on “Driving Innovation for the Future of Inland Transport” and examines the ITC’s role and added value within the evolving UN architecture under the UN80 initiative.
It will also address megatrends such as automation, artificial intelligence, digitalisation, and data-driven governance, exploring how innovation can be responsibly harnessed through coherent, science-based and interoperable regulatory frameworks to make inland transport safer, greener and more resilient.
Over the past 75 years, the ITC, together with its subsidiary bodies, has provided an intergovernmental forum where UNECE and UN member states come together to forge tools for economic cooperation and negotiate international legal instruments on inland transport.
These instruments are considered indispensable for developing efficient, harmonised, integrated, safe and sustainable inland transport systems such as railways, roads and inland waterways.
Ms Jovana Miočinović, a UNECE public information assistant, said the ITC — the main UN regulatory body for inland transport — will bring together all UN member states.
The committee oversees more than 60 international legal instruments covering vehicle regulations, transport of dangerous goods, border facilitation, infrastructure networks, and multimodal transport.
More than 20 ministers from all regions of the world, alongside senior government officials, heads of international organisations, and leaders from industry and civil society, will discuss strategic priorities and consider a wide range of policy, governance and technical issues shaping the future of inland transport across road, rail, inland waterways and intermodal systems.
Ms Miočinović added that participants would be able to witness a live demonstration showcasing how next-generation intelligent transport systems could protect cyclists and improve the safety of vulnerable road users.
