The International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have issued a joint statement calling for support from governments and international bodies to ensure international supply and mobility chains remain connected during the Covid-19 pandemic.

IRU has been working tirelessly to help the road transport industry navigate through the COVID-19 crisis, in cooperation with numerous regional and international stakeholders and partners.

Passenger road transport is the backbone of the global economy. It contributes to the success of numerous sectors, but not limited to, the tourism industry and is essential to business and leisure travel. But as the COVID-19 pandemic containment measures are forcing millions of people to stay at home, passenger transport operations have been condemned to a de facto lockdown, unlike any other in the industry’s history.

IRU has urged the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, to intervene in the recent treatment of truck drivers at the Turkish borders.