BERLIN, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Transport Forum (ITF) will have its annual meeting in Leipzig. The city will be the regular host of this important transport summit. This year, Ministers of Transport as well as high ranking representatives from 51 countries will meet to discuss the theme "Transport and Energy: The Challenge of Climate Change". Other issues to be addressed will be energy efficiency, changing behaviour in passenger transport, reducing CO2 emissions in goods transport and in emerging economies.

"Germany is hosting the upcoming and most important transport summit of the year," said Secretary General of the International Transport Forum Jack Short at the presentation event for the Forum 2008 programme on Thursday in Berlin, together with Wolfgang Tiefensee, German Minister of Transport. The Forum will take place 28 to 30 May in Leipzig, on the theme "Transport and Energy: the Challenge of Climate Change". Leipzig had been chosen as the permanent venue for the ITF, stated Short.

Global Role of the ITF

Solutions increasingly need to be discussed and found on the international and global level. The ITF fills a gap at international level as it has a long tradition as a transport hub and centre for International exchange and will play a similar role for transport and energy as the Davos summit does for the world economy. Distinguished speakers at the Forum include: Angela Merkel, German Federal Chancellor; Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman, UN IPCC; Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; Thomas Enders, CEO of Airbus; Thierry Morin, CEO of Valeo; Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of Deutsche Bahn and Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency among others.

Platform for Global Consensus Building

"This is a key global platform for politics, industry and civil society for mobility and transport," said Secretary General of the International Transport Forum. "This is the place and the platform to build a global consensus on challenges facing the sector."

The three-day conference will deal with central questions such as how member states can improve energy efficiency and achieve low carbon transport for the future. Of interest will be issues such as energy efficiency, changing behaviour in passenger transport, reducing CO2 emissions in goods transport and in emerging economies. According to Short, "There are no simple answers to these questions," as the present debate on biofuels indicates. "This can only be achieved by a common understanding for recommendations and solutions; can we cope with the challenges of climate change for the transport sector." The transport summit of the year, the International Transport Forum 2008.

The International Transport Forum as part of the OECD is the successor organisation of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), founded in 1953. The Paris-based organisation has 51 member countries at present, including all OECD members.

For more information, please contact: Director of Communications Michael ZIRPEL Tel: +33-1-45-24-95-96 email: michael.zirpel@oecd.org Postal address: 2 rue André Pascal F-75775 Paris Cedex 16 Fax: +33-1-45-24-13-22-97-42

For more information, please contact: Director of Communications, Michael ZIRPEL, Tel. +33-1-45-24-95-96, email: michael.zirpel@oecd.org; Postal address: 2 rue André Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, Fax +33-1-45-24-13-22-97-42