2. The Chair of the World Forum welcomed Pakistan, which participated in WP.29 for the first time. The representative of Pakistan addressed the World Forum and highlighted investment opportunities in the automobile sector of Pakistan in view of economic growth, construction of motorways, other infrastructure projects including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the establishment of numerous industrial estates in near future. He expressed his gratitude to the Government of Japan, Japanese Ministries, research organizations including JASIC and automobile producers for supporting Pakistan’s attendance at WP.29. He added that although Pakistan was an observer at this meeting, he hoped that later Pakistan could become a Contracting Party.

3. The secretariat gave an overview of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which had been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. Of the seventeen SDGs, five will directly and one indirectly involve transport and will be related to the work of the World Forum.

4. The secretariat also reminded the World Forum of the meeting of the Inland Transport Committee in February 2016 with special attention to its policy segment focusing on “Innovations for Sustainable Inland Transport with Special Attention to Information and Communication Technologies” and invited those interested to participate.