Scania hosts major European transport conference

EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot, Catherine Day, Director General, DG Environment of the European Commission, and Etienne Krug from the World Health Organisation (WHO) will be among the speakers at the Scania Transport Conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 5 October. “The purpose of the conference is to initiate a constructive dialogue on the benefits to society of a well functioning transport system, and on its side effects, such as traffic congestion and road safety,” says Cecilia Edström, Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations at Scania.

Jacques Barrot will report on the Commission’s work to improve road safety in the member nations. The overall goal is to halve the number of road fatalities in the Union by 2010. About 50,000 people die on European roads every year. In her address, Catherine Day will present the EU’s view of the environmental improvements required to maintain a competitive European transport industry. Etienne Krug, Director of the Department for Injuries and Violence Prevention, will report on WHO’s road safety programme. WHO is on behalf of the UN General Assembly coordinating the global road safety efforts. Traffic-related accidents are regarded as one of the world’s largest health problems, taking second place as the cause of death in the 5 to 29 year age range and third place in the 30 to 44 age group. The developing nations suffer the most. Other speakers will include Scania CEO Leif Östling and Hasse Johansson, Group Vice President and Head of Research and Development, as well as representatives of Shell and Michelin. To illustrate the importance of the truck driver to road safety and transport economics, the top prizewinners from the finals of Scania’s Young European Truck Driver competition will attend the conference and will be honoured specially at a prizegiving ceremony hosted by Jacques Barrot and Leif Östling. Scania’s initiative of assembling leading European policy and opinion makers to discuss issues of crucial importance to the transport sector was launched in 1999. Since then, it has been held every second year, making this year’s gathering the fourth in the series. The attendance of about 300 delegates will include EU parliamentarians and officials, researchers and other experts, as well as automotive industry, haulage industry and media representatives. The conference will be held at the Autoworld Museum in Brussels and will be opened by Leif Östling at 15:30. The programme appears on the following page. For further information, please contact Hans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, Scania, tel. +46-8-553 856 62. Programme: Scania Transport Conference, Brussels, 5 October 2005 15:00 – 15:30 Registration and coffee Session 1: Competitiveness Welcome address & future challenges for the road transport sector Leif Östling, President and CEO, Scania Future road transport in Europe: a transport buyer’s point of view Melih Turker, General Manager, Transport Lubricants Europe, Shell Environment Environmental efficiency as a competitive edge for the European transport industry Catherine Day, Director General, DG Environment, European Commission How a competitive road transport industry contributes to a better environment Hasse Johansson, Group Vice President and Head of R&D, Scania How the right tires improve the environment Alexis Burlacot, Vice President, Marketing, Truck Tires Europe, Michelin 17:30 – 18:00 Opening of exhibition & coffee break Session 2: Road safety Improving road safety in the EU Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Transport, European Commission Young European Truck Driver competition 2005, film and prizegiving ceremony hosted by Commissioner Barrot and Mr. Östling A global approach to road safety Etienne Krug, Director, Department of Injuries & Violence Prevention, World Health Organisation Concluding remarks Leif Östling, President and CEO, Scania 19:00 Exhibition