2. The Director of the Transport Division welcomed the representatives, especially Mr. Torres, Director of Economic Regulations, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, participating for the first time in the World Forum WP.29. She introduced Mr. F. Guichard as a new professional staff member. The Director informed WP.29 about the ongoing review of the ECE reform (see para. 10 below) and expressed her hope that the Transport Division resources would be reinforced. She reported on the follow-up to Rio +20 and on the preparations for post-2015, among them the wish for a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on transport. The Director also informed WP.29 about the World Health Organization press release concerning diesel exhaust emissions and reiterated her request to provide inputs to the secretariat (see para. 11 below) for a comprehensive experts’ paper.

3. The Director reminded the group that the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) strategy package was on the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) agenda and invited all WP.29 representatives to participate in the Round Table jointly organized with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in June 2013. She reported on the nineteenth ITS World Congress held in Vienna in October 2012 and the ministerial session. She informed WP.29 about the lack of budget to cover the fourth year of Ms. D. Schramm’s contract. She added that, despite the efforts made by the secretariat to fund the post using extra-budgetary resources, these efforts were not successful. She invited the representatives of WP.29 to consider providing assistance.

4. Concerning the project “For Future Inland Transport Systems (ForFITS)” on the development of a tool for the assessment of inland transport CO2 emissions with a transport policy converter, the Director informed WP.29 that the tool would be completed by the end of January 2013 and that the pilot phase would start immediately afterwards. She invited all representatives to participate in the second UN Global Road Safety Week from 6 to 12 May 2013. There will be several events in the “Palais” and cooperation has been initiated in this respect with WP.29 Working Parties, as well as other interested partners. She encouraged the adoption of the three new UN Regulations listed in the current agenda. Finally, she also invited the Chair and representatives of WP.29 to participate in the forthcoming session of ITC and the Second Meeting for Transport Ministers of the Euro-Asian region countries.