2. The Vice-Chair of WP.29, Mr. A. Erario (Italy), acting as Chair for this session, welcomed delegates to the 180th session of WP.29 and opened the meeting. He recalled the exceptional circumstances of this session due to the Covid-19 outbreak. He welcomed delegates participating remotely to the session and informed the World Forum about the absence of the WP.29 Chair.

3. The Secretary of WP.29 provided information for meeting participants related to the Covid-19 outbreak, prevention and general precautions as well as on measures taken for this meeting.

4. The representative of Malaysia provided the World Forum with an update on automotive development in Malaysia, as part of the country’s National Automotive Policy (NAP 2020) (WP.29-180-24). He stated that WP.29 had significant impact on NAP 2020 formulation especially in the area of safety regulations and administration enhancement in Malaysia. He also emphasized that NAP 2020 had aimed to transform the Malaysian automotive industry towards a connected mobility ecosystem by 2030. The representative of Malaysia concluded with stating that Malaysia would provide full support in the development of UN Regulations especially in the area of automated, autonomous and connected vehicles, namely the work carried out within the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA).