2. The Chair of the World Forum welcomed the representatives to the World Forum and introduced the opening speaker Eva Molnar, Director of the Sustainable Transport Division.

3. The Director of the Sustainable Transport Division welcomed the delegates to the 172nd session of the World Forum. As the outgoing director, she expressed her thanks for the decade of excellent cooperation and commended the World Forum on its achievements during the period.

4. She reminded delegates of the Ministerial Resolution adopted on the occasion of the seventy-ninth session of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC), the bodies 70th anniversary, in February 2017. The Resolution proposed that the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) consider adopting a decision to propose to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that the ITC submit to the Council an annual informative report on its activities. The ECE adopted a positive decision and the proposal will be considered by ECOSOC at its next session in July 2017. She urged delegates at the World Forum whose countries are ECOSOC members to support this process. She emphasized that the parallel reporting structure will align the ITC reporting process with its de facto work as the custodian of United Nations Inland Transport Conventions and Agreements whose contracting parties are United Nations Member States from all regions of the world, not only those of the ECE region. She underlined that the parallel reporting structure does not imply the need for additional resources for the ITC secretariat. The only budgetary implication would be translation of the summary report to ECOSOC into the three UN languages that are not official in the ECE region and to which the report of the ITC is not at present translated, namely Arabic, Chinese and Spanish.

5. The Director of the Sustainable Transport Division further reflected on the future strategy of the Inland Transport Committee. This strategy should reflect how transport and mobility would be likely in the next 20 to 30 years, addressing automation, climate change, electrification of transport, shared mobility and digitalisation. Questions on the adjustment of current work and organisational settings need to be addressed.

6. The Chair of the World Forum thanked the Director on her opening statement, stating his appreciation of the excellent leadership and cooperation with the World Forum during her 10-year tenure.

7. The Vice-chair of the World Forum reiterated the words of the chair, congratulating the Director on her achievements and wishing her success in future personal endeavours.