Skip to main content

Argentina, Israel and Morocco join International Transport Forum

In a key development, Argentina, Israel and Morocco are joining the International Transport Forum (ITF). The decision was made at a summit of international transport ministers held in the German city of Leipzig, who unanimously approved membership of the countries. Of particular note is the appointment of Morocco, the first full ITF member country from Africa. Housed by the OECD in Paris (France), the ITF is an intergovernmental organisation that acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the
June 4, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
In a key development, Argentina, Israel and Morocco are joining the 1102 International Transport Forum (ITF). The decision was made at a summit of international transport ministers held in the German city of Leipzig, who unanimously approved membership of the countries. Of particular note is the appointment of Morocco, the first full ITF member country from Africa.

Housed by the OECD in Paris (France), the ITF is an intergovernmental organisation that acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers. ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes. This decision takes the number of ITF member countries from 54 to 57.

Previously, Morocco was an observer country since the creation of ITF in 2006. “Morocco’s accession will be a plus for the Forum. It is also a positive development for Morocco,” said Mohamed Najib Boulif, Morocco’s deputy minister of Transport. “The geostrategic position of Morocco in the Mediterranean, in Africa, in the MENA region: these are all strategic assets for Morocco’s participation.”

Israel joins the ITF after becoming a member of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2010. “Israel is keen to contribute to the work of the ITF, and to be inspired by it,” said Moshe Kamhi, Director of Economic International Organisations in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of Israel’s accession.

Argentina is the second ITF member country from South America, following the accession of Chile in 2012. Argentina has been actively involved with the ITF’s permanent working group on road safety (known as 3444 IRTAD) since 2009. It has been a leading force in establishing the Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory (OISEVI), for which IRTAD operates a Spanish-language database with road crash information.

Simon Bridges, minister of Transport of New Zealand, the 2015 ITF presidency country said, “New Zealand welcomes Morocco, Argentina and Israel to the International Transport Forum. The expanded membership of the ITF promises the opportunity to promote an increasingly global outlook for the work of the ITF.”

ITF secretary-general José Viegas also expressed his satisfaction at the accession of the three countries. “ITF is the global, all-modes transport organisation. These three new members make the ITF even more global, and they bring significant transport experience to the table,” said Viegas. “We will be working with the governments of Argentina, Israel and Morocco to ensure that they get value for their policy making out of their membership.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Developing Brazil's transport infrastructure
    February 16, 2012
    The IRF and ABCR spoke with World Highways about the upcoming 7th Brazilian Congress on Highways and Concessions event
  • Global credit squeeze impacts Australia's road construction
    July 13, 2012
    Roads Australia steps up in policy debate as road construction feels the pinch of the credit squeeze, as Mark Bowmer (RA media director) reports Like all markets around the world, Australia is feeling the effects of the global credit squeeze and its impact on the delivery of major infrastructure projects such as roads. In Sydney, for example, lack of funding (both from government and private sources) is seen as the major stumbling block to the construction of a much-needed eastern extension to Sydney's main
  • 4th Ibero-American road safety focus planned
    July 2, 2014
    The Latin America and Caribbean Region suffers from a high number of crashes on rural roads and also in the urban areas. Road crashes are now one of the leading causes of death in the region, especially for those aged 5-44. There are around 100,000 reported road fatalities/year in Latin America and the Caribbean while over 5 million/year are injured. Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that the death and serious injury rates are 10-20 times higher than in other industrialised regions, highli
  • Supporting road safety data collection in EuroMed Region
    December 13, 2018
    Dr Cristian Gonzalez, director IRF World Road Statistics, was in Athens to share IRF’s expertise in data collection at a three-day regional workshop organised by the EuroMed Transport Support Project. The event offered a novel opportunity to share national, European and international experiences and best practices with road safety data and allow a regional exchange on setting up a road map for the follow-up actions. The Workshop hosted 40 experts, of which 25 from EuroMed Partner countries. The “EuroMed T