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IRF Partners with China Summit:
Capacity-Building for the New Silk Road
During the 3-day International Highway Technology Summit, billed as China’s largest and most influential highway knowledge platform, the International Road Federation chaired a flagship multi-country panel discussion on China's new Silk Road Economic Belt program and organized training workshops on forgiving roads and asset management applications.
The event drew together 1,500 participants ranging from highway administration agencies to contractors in China and countries impacted by the Silk Belt program. China’s new vision for the Silk Road includes a surface transport corridor which stretches from Xi’an in central China to Kazakhstan, northern Iran and Istanbul where it connects with Europe’s major road corridors. The surface transport program itself is connected within a broader package of infrastructure programs and measures aimed at revitalizing the Euro-Asian trade corridors.
During the panel discussion chaired by IRF, a number of vital points were identified by the speakers as critical success factors for the success of the Silk Road program, chief among which strategies that supported shared benefits for participating nations. In his closing remarks, IRF Membership Development & Marketing Director Arif Rafiq noted, “the Silk Road is not a one-nation endeavor.”
The IRF’s presence at the Summit further underscores the organization’s global reach and a unique role in delivering applied knowledge resources to road practitioners worldwide.
"We are honored to have had the IRF as a supporting organization to the 2015 International Highway Technology Summit at a time when China is proposing to fast-track regional connections through the Silk Road Economic Belt," said Hu Xijie, president of the China Highway & Transportation Society and former vice minister of transport for China.
"IHTS has become a signature event in one of the most vibrant markets globally," noted C. Patrick Sankey, IRF president & CEO. "On this occasion the IRF was pleased to introduce our suite of capacity strengthening programs adapted to the needs of Chinese highway professionals."
Regional transport corridors and the prospects offered by the Silk Road Economic Belt program will be at the core of the 1st IRF Europe & Central Asia Regional Congress in Istanbul on September 15-18, 2015. For more information, please visit http://eca.IRF.global.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]