IRU calls for e-corridors

During the session, Mr de Pretto asked the Ministers: 

• How can we speak about data driven autonomous vehicles in an e-everything global economy yet still need to produce paper documents?  
• How can we expect the road transport industry to play its vital role in connecting transport modes, cities, regions and continents yet not benefit from the efficiency, transparency, facilitation and security offered by data rather than paper exchange?  
• How can we speak about sustainable development, when economic development is being stifled with trucks and drivers stuck at borders and fuel is being wasted waiting in lengthy queues? 

Mr de Pretto went on to say: “The road transport industry appreciates every millimetre of road infrastructure built. But we need to see soft infrastructure put in place at border crossings using tried and tested facilitation instruments like the TIR system. Otherwise we have a futile situation where trucks can get to border crossings more quickly thanks to new infrastructure along key corridors, yet are still blocked there for hours, days and sometimes even weeks.”
 
The Tbilisi Silk Road Forum attracted over 2000 participants from 65 countries.