Organised in collaboration with the Moroccan Motorway Authority (Autoroutes du Maroc) and the National Road Association (AMR), the IRF Regional Conference: North Africa – Mediterranean will be hosted during March 19-20 at Marrakech in Morocco.
This is conceived a key international forum addressing the road infrastructure needs and challenges of this rich growth and high opportunity area, strategically situated at the crossroads between, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Demanding climatic conditions, growing urbanisation and changing mobility patterns, coupled with a period of recent economic and social upheaval, pose serious challenges to road development and operation in the North African and Mediterranean region.
Benefitting from the support of the World Bank, the Moroccan Ministry of Equipment and Transport and ITS Arab, the IRF Conference has been conceived to dynamically address these challenges. It will offer industry leaders a particularly prominent and influential platform for stimulating business and connections in what promises to be a fast developing region going forward.
The event will be attended by a wide range of key stakeholders drawn from across the region and beyond, including government and inter-governmental agencies, senior business and industry representatives, research institutions and professional associations.
Mr. Abdelaziz Rabbah, Minister for Public Works and Transport of the Kingdom of Morocco, will honour the occasion by addressing delegates at the special high-level segment, which will open the event in the presence of dignitaries and senior officials from all over the region. This will include keynote speeches by a number of leading personalities, including the Resident Representative of the African Development Bank, Mrs. Amani Abou Abeid.
The main thematic segments will similarly bring together a distinguished roster of presenters and panelists, and will notably feature plenary sessions on inter-urban road links and urban mobility as well as high-level panel discussions on road networks in the region, and partnerships for the future.
A particularly dynamic feature will be the parallel organisation of two exclusive interactive workshops addressing Green Public Procurement and, in association with ITS Arab, the Deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the region respectively.
The second day has been set aside for plenary sessions focusing on road safety. Besides its long-standing commitment in this domain, expressed notably through its international group of experts on road safety, IRF currently chairs the Pillar 2 Working Group of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC), dedicated to ‘Safer Roads & Mobility’.
Given this synergy, the road safety outcomes will aim to serve as an important infrastructure sector contribution to the global action plan of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
Renowned for its rich cultural heritage, vivid colour and exotic contrasts, Marrakech forms an apt backdrop for a conference of this stature. Indeed, the city was once a major trading crossroads where the caravans that plied a flourishing trade with Africa used to rest among the palm groves, and replenish with the fresh water flowing from the Atlas mountains, before embarking on the great Sahara crossing.