On 15-16 May 2023, Belgrade hosted the international conference Vision Zero for Balkans. The conference was organised by the International Road Federation together with the Government of Serbia.
Director Arystan Massanov and Deputy Director Zhandos Amanbayev took part in the conference and reviewed important materials on improving road safety presented by speakers such as the Government of Serbia, the Belgrade city authorities, heads of major companies and others. It is worth noting that two decades ago the Balkan states started from a position largely identical to that of the CIS countries. However, the governments of these states, together with international financial institutions, made enormous efforts to reduce deaths and injuries in road crashes. Although the region's figures have not yet reached the level of Western European countries, Serbia's success is an excellent example for our country.
We, the Kazakh Scientific Research Institute for Road Safety LLP, signed a memorandum with the International Road Safety Center (IRSC) and the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, aimed at developing partnership, exchange of experience and academic cooperation in road safety in order to promote research and road safety advocacy in society, academia and government bodies, and to train new generations of road safety engineers and specialists.
The President of the International Road Safety Center (IRSC), Professor Krsto Lipovac, kindly shared with us the latest research publications on the methodology and approach to reducing road crashes in Serbia. We plan to exchange road safety textbooks and relevant lectures, hold webinars, cooperate on road safety research for joint publications and organise study visits between the parties.
Mr Arystan Massanov, a member of the Road Safety Committee of the International Road Federation, attended the Committee's regular meeting, where current plans and key challenges were discussed.
Meetings were also held with Mr Nenad Nikolić, Regional Adviser of the Sustainable Transport Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the IRF leadership and other leading stakeholders and road safety specialists.
