Transport and Covid-19: responses and resources

Secretary-General's wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023

Dear friends,

As we celebrate the arrival of a new year, I extend to all of you warm greetings and my sincere best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023.

For the world at large, the past year was filled with huge challenges, some enduring and some shockingly unexpected. The convergence of crises brought into sharp relief fundamental questions: How can humanity avoid a climate catastrophe? What can restore the international order for peace? Where are solutions to stop our societies from drifting apart? Our common task for 2023 is to answer these questions. World peace, our prosperity and, ultimately, the future of humankind are in the balance.

Yet let us begin the new year with hope and in the spirit of resilient optimism. Billions of people around the world who follow the Chinese calendar will welcome the Year of the Rabbit later this month. In this tradition, rabbits are quiet but at the same time smart, agile, confident and strong. Regardless of adverse circumstances, they pursue their goals steadily and calmly, following reason and paying attention to detail. Perhaps the rabbit is the role model the world needs this year.

At the International Transport Forum, we will continue to apply a rabbit mindset to the tasks that our member countries have given us. We will redouble our efforts to help transport to decarbonise and transform itself from being a part of the problem to becoming a part of the solution. We will continue to help cities to reinvent urban mobility and become less congested, less polluted and more livable. We will do our utmost so transport ensures access to opportunities for all citizens - jobs, education, and healthcare, to name only the most critical. We will continue to do our part in the fight against the global epidemic of road deaths and life-changing injuries. We will help to harness innovation and the digitalisation of mobility for the benefit of all.

2023 also marks the first full year of my second five-year mandate as the Secretary-General of the ITF. I am conscious of the great responsibility that comes with this charge, and I will do my utmost to repay the trust placed in me and make the International Transport Forum serve its members better and better, step by step!

A rich and fulfilling New Year to all of you,

Young Tae Kim

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