The Honorary and the Outreach Committees of the 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition held their first meetings in Paris, France to review the management plan and concept program of what promises to be the most important global event for the road industry in 2013. The Honorary Committee, chaired by current IRF chairman and mayor of Riyadh H.E. Eng. Abdullah Al-Mogbel, and representation of each major region of the world, met in Paris on September 7 at the headquarters of the well-known French firm Colas. Asse
The Honorary and the Outreach Committees of the 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition held their first meetings in Paris, France to review the management plan and concept program of what promises to be the most important global event for the road industry in 2013.
The Honorary Committee, chaired by currentAssembled committee members included two ministers: H.E. Binali Yildirim, Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications of Turkey, and H.E. Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf, Minister of Works of Bahrain; as well as a number of prominent figures of the global transportation stage. including the President of the
The assembled dignitaries, who lent their considerable gravitas to the organisation of the world event, pledged their support for the Meeting and approved the management plan and concept program presented by IRF’s President and CEO C. Patrick Sankey and his senior management team.
In keeping with the vision of Eng. Al-Mogbel, the participants made significant contributions to ensure an event of the highest calibre. Some of the important ideas that were derived from the meeting included the importance of non-industry political leaders, experts, and celebrities as speakers, with a view to advance our industry views to leaders outside of the transport industry and to learn effective ways to explain the enormous contribution that the road and mobility industry has on the well-being of the general public and global economy.
The Honorary Committee gathering was preceded by the kickoff meeting of the IRF World Meeting Outreach Committee, which was chaired by Mr. Jean-Claude Roffé, Senior Executive Advisor of the Colas Group, and immediate past chair of the 16th IRF World Meeting, held in Lisbon Portugal in 2010.
Mr. Roffé introduced the overall value proposition of the 2013 Meeting and asked committee members to help develop a program, taking into consideration the serious challenges facing the entire global road industry. Mr. Roffe was emphatic that the 2013 World Meeting of IRF would affect our industry well beyond 2013 and with an overall goal of making it relevant, compelling, timely and influential.
The idea is to articulate a World Meeting program that offers solutions to these challenges and a better way forward for the industry. Of particular interest were innovative proposals for managing and leveraging emerging and disruptive technologies, raising the productivity of the industry (doing more with less), and sharing economical innovations and other best practices.
While both committee meetings were a great success, an important challenge for the organisers of the World Meeting will remain how to transcend the industry and reach out effectively to the rest of the world.
For information about the program and exhibit opportunities, visit %$Linker:
IRF at +1 703 535 1001.
