151. The representatives of EuroMed introduced the latest updates on the EU-funded project involving five North African countries (WP.29-176-32): Algeria, Egypt, Libya (currently inactive), Morocco and Tunisia and five Middle East countries: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, State of Palestine, and Syrian Arab Republic (currently inactive). The project had already been introduced at the November 2017 session of WP.29 (WP.29-173-24 and WP.29-173-25). The project had been recently extended until 2022.
152. The EuroMed project had identified thirteen agreements, including the three vehicle agreements administered by WP.29 on which the work is focusing on. The resulting accessions to the UN agreements are progressing slowly, as administrative reform in the project countries is time consuming.
153. The EuroMed representative highlighted the added value of collaboration with OICA and CITA and was looking forward to a strengthened collaboration with IMMA.
154. IMMA expressed support for the initiative and was looking forward to a closer collaboration with the EuroMed project.
155. The EuroMed representative reported on the implantation progress of the 1958 and 1997 agreements, objects of the work held in the region, and highlighted the collaborations between technical services in Europe and in the EuroMed countries. The representatives of Morocco, Israel, Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia and the State of Palestine (statement delivered by the representative of EuroMed) presented their national situation on vehicle certification and PTI (Informal Documents WP.29-176-33 to 38).
156. The representative of EuroMed presented the draft Road Maps on the accession to and implementation of the United Nations 1958 and 1997 Agreements (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2018/163).
157. The representative of USA noted that the 1998 Agreement is lacking in the EuroMed report that is focusing mainly on the implementation of the 1958 and 1997 Agreements. He wondered if information on the 1998 Agreement could also be added to the EuroMed report.
158. The Secretary of WP.29 emphasized that all three vehicle agreements were treated on an equal footing in the World Forum and that roadmaps to accede the three agreements have been prepared by the EuroMed team and the secretariat (WP.29-176-08 and WP.29-176-26). The secretariat then presented document WP.29-176-13, the draft Road Map for accession to and implementation of the United Nations 1998 Agreement, which could become an integral part of the Road Maps publication.
159. The representative of EuroMed confirmed that their scope of work only included the 1958 and 1997 Agreements and that they would seek consent for including information on acceding to the 1998 Agreement (WP.29-176-13) in their Road Maps publication from the responsible department of the European Commission.
160. WP.29 welcomed a complete Road Maps publication, covering all three agreements.
161. The representative of CITA thanked EuroMed for the activities held in the region and for the example that such project represents for other countries in the world.
162. The Chair of WP.29 was pleased with the project outcomes and praised such initiatives as best practice examples that could be replicated in other developing regions.