A national road safety round table hosted today by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan and National Automobile Club of Uzbekistan (NACU) has brought together 50 national and international stakeholders focussed on strategic policy and initiatives to save lives.

The Global Knowledge Improvement Through Knowledge Expansion and Proactive Actions in Uzbekistan Round Table was chaired by Mr Abduhakimov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan and showcased expert presentations by UN Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt, iRAP, NACU, the Kazakh Scientific Research Institute for Road Safety, Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory, Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST), World Health Organisation (WHO), Ministries of Transport and Internal Affairs and Tashkent City Municipality.

Explored topics included the current state of road safety and progress to the achievement of the 2030 Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Uzbekistan, strategic policy needs to achieve SDG 3.6 to halve road deaths and injuries, legislation compliance, and opportunities for projects, crash data monitoring, capacity building and utilization of research, resources and support of international partners.

On opening the round table, Mr Abduhhakimov said, “This is a landmark meeting for ensuring sustainable mobility and the safety of the local population and tourist visitors to Uzbekistan. Improvement of road security is a priority of the Uzbekistan Government and Head of State.”

Greg Smith, Strategic Programme Director of iRAP presented on international experience, the iRAP methodology, protocols and training to support national RAP programmes and suggestions on cooperation to advance road safety in the country.

Arystan Massanov, Director General of the Kazakh Scientific Research Institute for Road Safety shared his experience of implementing iRAP in neighboring Kazakhstan where more than 5000 km of roads have been Star Rated together with EuroRAP members and World Bank support.

iRAP looks forward to supporting Uzbekistan to improve the safety of their road infrastructure through a local road assessment programme and toward the achievement of UN Global Road Safety Targets 3 and 4 including ensuring all new roads are built to a 3-star or better standard for all road users (Target 3), and more than 75% of travel is on the equivalent of 3-star or better roads for all road users by 2030 (Target 4).

According to iRAP’s Vaccines for Roads Big Data Tool, over 3,600 people die on Uzbekistan’s roads each year (WHO, 2015) and achieving UN Target 3 for >75% of travel on 3-star or better roads for all road users by 2030 stands to save an estimated 1,200 lives every year.

Images source: Roundtable Livestream and iRAP