UIC-International Union of railways delegation, headed by François Davenne, UIC Director General, joined COP27 launching the MoreTrains campaign by organizing numerous railway-related events.
UIC came to this African COP with an agenda of bringing forward rail at the African content. Every country has a clear commitment that rail should become the backbone of sustainable mobility. Rail and public transport are bringing better life in all cities.
Therefore, it was important for UIC to be at COP27 to promote rail and public transport as the greenest form of High-volume transport and its ability to help transform cities and speak about promoting the work of the UIC African members and its activities to drive sustainability and connectivity in African Cities.
Railway transport sector had been prioritized within the African Union Commission Agenda 2063 ‘The Africa we want!’ as a flagship project to connect the capitals of Africa, in all regions.
To achieve this there are railways projects already ongoing, whatever standard gauge we are using, to connect the capitals of all five regions. Building a network of regional and commuter trains is of another importance.
Another issue brought forward by UIC within the panel ‘Women get on Board’ organized by UIC was the importance of having a joint vision of the future of women that we want, committing to having more women in the workforce, as well as capacity building – to help more women build careers, especially in technical and leadership roles.
During the event, the keynote speaker HE Dr Abou-Zeid, Commissioner of IED AUC, called to strongly support the empowerment of women in the transport sector and added that all stakeholders should actively participate in addressing the challenges of women in all sectors across the continent, which will be crucial in the achievement of Africa’s development agenda.
Among many actions, UIC calls on all stakeholders to make stronger representation of the public transport sector at the next COP28, to be held in Dubai in 2023.
