International Forum “MAKE ROADS SAFE”,
23 November, 2010

The Road Safety Issues were in focus during whole November – various activities and campaigns on rising of Public awareness on Road Safety were held in Armenia. These campaigns were organized by the National Road Safety Council of Armenia on the threshold of the UN announced “Decade of Action” on Road Safety. 
The National Road Safety Council organized the November final event - the international forum under the slogan “MAKE ROADS SAFE” in Armenia. Among the participants and invited guests of the forum were high ranked officials of Armenia, including the prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Minister of Transport Mr. Manuk Vardanyan, the Ambassador of the Great Britain in Armenian H.E. Charles Lonsdale, the country manager of the World Bank in Armenia Mr. Jean-Michael Happi, Director General of the FIA Foundation Mr. David Ward, Director of the EASST (Eastern Alliance of Safe and Sustainable Transport) Mrs. Emma MacLennan, International Director of iRAP Mr. John Mumford, Chief inspector, Head of the department on Traffic Safety of the Police of Russian Federation General Victor Kiryanov, Test and training international, former F1 pilot and winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours Mr. Alexander Wurz, representatives of Mass Media, NGO’s, youth organizations etc.
In the welcome speech of the forum the Prime Minister, Chairman of the National Road Safety Council of Armenia Mr. Tigran Sargyan mentioned the importance of the cooperation with the civil society. “We really appreciate the help of a society that facilitates our problem considerably since then, cooperating with a civil society, we raise awareness of the public in favor of joint actions. The national program of the government also has been projected with direct participation of our citizens. It is a guarantee that we are able to reduce quantity of road accidents in Armenia.”
The Minister of Transport and Communication, the board member of the National Road Safety Council of Armenia Mr. Manuk Vardanyan presented the present situation of Road Safety in Armenia and underlined the importance of the road conditions. “New international standards of the road safety are already in use in the Republic of Armenia, and they are used during construction of new roads, also renovated equipment is used and it promotes the increase of the road safety. These and other activities will be implemented during next 4 years. I can declaim that the steps taken by the Government of the Republic of Armenia have already given the decrease of the number of road accidents, but with all these we have much to do” – said the minister.
Presenting the “Decade of Action” on Road Safety proclaimed by the UN, the Director General of FIA Foundation Mr. David Ward mentioned, that the 1/3 of the countries of the European regions has no national multi-functional strategy on Road Safety. This fact one more time shows the importance of the approach of the Government of the Republic of Armenia towards this issue.
The Chief inspector, Head of the department on Traffic Safety of the Police of Russian Federation Mr. Victor Kiryanov in his presentation focused on the necessity of the unifying forces and acting jointly on solving the Road Safety problems. He has also pointed out that currently Russian Federation is working on the design of the national road safety strategy for Russia.
The various presentations on these issues were made also by Mr. John Mumford, Mrs. Emma MacLennan, Mr. Jean-Michael Happi, Mr. Alex Wurz, and Director of the Transport PIU of RA Mr. Alexander Bakhtamyan.
The Head of the Secretariat of the National Road Safety Council of Armenia Mr. Poghos Shahinyan presented the Road Safety activities held by the secretariat during the November in Armenia. More information on the activities undertaken during November 2010 you may find in our news section.    
The forum summed up the results of school competitions “Road Safety and me”. The Prime Minister handed out prizes to the winners and was photographed with them.

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