Your Excellency, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Your Excellency, Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China,
Distinguished Heads of State and Government,
Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference is declared open and its first plenary is called to order.
In my capacity as the Secretary-General of this Conference, I extend a warm welcome to all participants.
This Conference was initiated by the United Nations General Assembly at the end of 2017 and was deferred to today from its original schedule for the first week of 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
This Conference now comes at a pivotal juncture, as we continue to face an uneven global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time, entering the second year of the United Nations Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Transport is vital for promoting connectivity, trade and employment. There has been an increasing appreciation of sustainable transport in a world linked even closer by globalization and digitalization.
Over the forthcoming three days, all participants at this Conference have an opportunity to leverage the lessons learned from the pandemic with investments, technologies, and capacity building and to chart new transformations towards sustainable transport, while fighting climate change.
This Conference brings together high-level government officials and policy makers, transport ministers, business and technology leaders, and experts from around the world.
Together, your efforts will serve to encourage and initiate action for sustainable transport at all levels.
Under the overall guidance of the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretariat and the relevant UN agencies have been privileged to work in close collaboration with the Government of China for the preparation of this Conference. I thank all colleagues from the Host Country, the UN system agencies, and relevant Departments of the UN Secretariat for their strong commitment, steady engagement, and enthusiastic support for this Conference.
I now invite His Excellency, Li Xiaopeng, Minister of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, to preside over the Conference.