Introducing the session “Meeting Road Safety Financing and Implementation Challenges”, Jean Todt took stock of the progress achieved in the field of road safety since the beginning of the UN Decade of Action in 2011. Among the achievements, he highlighted the inclusion of two road safety related targets in the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the mandate given to the UN Secretary-General in April 2016 to investigate the establishment of a UN Road Safety Fund and finally the submission to the UN SG of a Consultation Paper for the establishment of this Fund in 2017. He was also happy to share the UN SG’s response to this Paper, requesting to take all necessary steps to establish the Trust Fund.

The UN Special Envoy also insisted on the importance of partnership and cooperation amongst all road safety stakeholders and the need to have reliable road safety data.

Lastly, Jean Todt highlighted the crucial role the World Bank and Multilateral Development Banks have been playing, and will continue to play, in implementing the global road safety agenda: “So as we scale up our efforts to meet the road safety funding and implementation challenges that we are faced with, I am confident that by working together, we can achieve our shared goals.”