Communications minister meets EU ambassador

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Communications held a meeting with European Union Ambassador Ms Androulla Kaminara and the Swedish Ambassador on Monday, says a press release.

The Swedish ambassador extended her governments’ invitation to the minister for attending the upcoming UN Ministerial Conference on Road Safety to be held in Geneva on Feb 20, 2020.

The European Union Ambassador stated that the upcoming UN Conference is very important as the preparedness of member countries to reduce 50 percent road accident fatalities by 2030 will be reviewed and bench mark for road crashes reduction beyond 2020 will be ascertained. The minister ensured that Pakistan will participate in the Conference.

The minister briefed to the Ambassadors about the first National Road Safety Strategy approved by the present government in November, 2018. The vision of the strategy is to save 6,000 lives by reducing 30 percent road crash fatalities by 2030. Also, other initiatives of the government regarding road safety have been shared with the visitors.

Minister mentioned that a comprehensive Road Safety Action plan 2019_22 is under finalization which will task relevant stake holders and departments for further necessary actions. Also, new model Road Safety law has been drafted as present laws are outdated and after 28th constitutional amendment provincial governments are very important stakeholder in the road safety improvements. NHA already adopted the policy of conducting Road Safety Audit on all of its mega projects.

NHA identified black spots on its network and billion of rupees earmarked for improvement. The honorable European Ambassador offered that the European Union can provide necessary assistance to the Government of Pakistan for Road Safety measures in the country.