The International Association of Public Transport (UITP): 59th World Congress and Exhibition, Dubai

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:18:02 +0100

When: 10 - 14 April 2011

Where: Dubai, UAE (Dubai Convention and Exhibition Center)

The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) will hold its 59th World Congress and Exhibition in Dubai from 10-14 April 2011. What is the background to this 'must-attend' event for the global public transport community? What is the added value of holding it in Dubai? And what can you expect from this 59th edition?

The MENA region: a booming market

Dubai is at the heart of one of the most promising regions in terms of public transport development, namely the Middle-East and North Africa region.

More than EUR 38 billion of investments are planned in the MENA region by 2030, from Morocco to Kuwait, and throughout Algeria, Egypt and Iran.

All of these projects will need infrastructure, vehicles, rolling stock, ticketing systems, IT systems, studies and technical assistance and later operation, etc. It is a huge market for manufacturers and service suppliers from around the world, as the region is very open to business and trade. The financial crisis has not affected public transport projects in the region. The taxation system, with very low (or no) taxes compared to Europe for example, encourages business in the region.

A long history of World Congreses and Exhibitions

UITP has been organising a biennial World Congress since 1886. In parallel, UITP also holds the Mobility and City Transport Exhibition, the world's largest multimodal urban and regional transport exhibition.

An opportunity to benchmark
International networking
The knowledge hub

The former Congress in Vienna, in June 2009, attracted over 2,200 delegates from 80 countries. The Mobility & City Transport Exhibition in Vienna featured 315 exhibitors from 40 countries over a surface area of 26,000 m² and 6,400 visitors with large delegations from outside Europe, especially from the Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East and North Africa regions.

Boosting public transport: Action!

This event will be the first important milestone in achieving the aim of the UITP strategy: doubling the public transport market share worldwide by 2025, also known as PTx2. Concrete solutions will be presented in many areas, including: business culture, lifestyle services, urban governance, finance and economy and the PTx2.

From Tokyo to Dubai, the rise of Asia - Good or bad for public transport?

Prof. Kishore Mahbubani will be the keynote speaker at the Dubai Congress. He is Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore. He was included in the March 2009 Financial Times list of the top 50 individuals (including Barack Obama, Wen Jiabao and Nicolas Sarkozy) who would shape the debate on the future of capitalism.

For more information, please visit the Congress website.

To contact an expert:

Mohamed Mezghani, MENA expert and UITP Strategy PTx2 Manager

Hicham Badran, Exhibition

Laurent Dauby, Congress Programme

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The International Association of Public Transport (UITP): 59th World Congress and Exhibition, Dubai