The Belt and Road International Transport Alliance (BRITA) 2020 virtual board meeting was held on 9^th June announcing the formal establishment of its Strategic Advisory Committee, Board of Directors, Technical Committees, and Secretariat. As Board member, IRF (Geneva) will be serving as Chair of the Sustainable Transport Committee and equally support the Secretariat and the Advisory Committee.

Mr. Mengyong WENG, president of the China Highway and Transportation Society (CHTS), was invited to serve as Chairman of BRITA Strategic Advisory Committee, Mr. Hailiang SONG, General Manager of China Communications Construction Group Co., Ltd. (CCCC), was nominated as Chairman of BRITA.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Yun QIAO, deputy secretary general of CHTS. 50 representatives from more than 30 countries and regions including Russia, Greece, South Africa and Nepal, etc. participated in the meeting. Officials from the embassies and transportation departments of some countries in China and representatives of international organizations were invited to attend the meeting.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Wenjie LIU BRITA Executive Chairman and Secretary General said that since the outbreak of COVID-19 the transportation community in various countries have overcome many difficulties and worked tirelessly to play a key role in preventing the spread of the virus. BRITA members have all made hard efforts by helping each other in different ways. Despite the current challenges, BRITA’s work is also actively advancing  and the purpose of the meeting was to exchange experience, consolidate the cooperative partnership among BRITA members, promote exchanges and cooperation, and discuss how BRITA can facilitate the development of safe, sustainable and efficient transport networks in the current COVID19 scenario.

Ms. Nina GUAN  Executive Secretary of BRITA gave an overview of BRITA past activities and plans for 2020-2021. BRITA has established three technical committees, signed strategic partnership agreements with board members, laying a solid foundation for the official establishment of BRITA. BRITA’s work plan focuses on improving the organization structure, carrying out high-level seminars and joint research, developing talent training, especially youth training projects, and establishing BRITA awards and scholarships.

Ms. Susanna Zammataro, IRF Director General delivered a presentation to illustrate the key features of the position paper that IRF is currently finalising and that provides strategic recommendations for the road sector especially in the light of recovery post-Covid19. She suggested extending the same strategic framework and line of priorities to the Belt & Road and to work closely with BRITA members to outline concrete steps in the delivery of transport networks that are people-centred and sustainable.