Seven multilateral development banks unveiled Tuesday (April 19) a joint initiative aimed at boosting road safety in the developing world.
The Multilateral Development Banks’ Road Safety Initiative is part of a campaign to meet targets of the United Nations Decade for Road Safety 2011-2020. It calls for an integrated “safe system approach,” which promotes shared responsibility for ensuring safe mobility. The approach urges countries to name a lead agency that will direct a national road safety strategy.
The Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Islamic Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and World Bank are supporting the initiative.
“We must make road safety a more urgent priority in the development assistance provided by multilateral development banks for road projects,” World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in an April 19 news release. “Otherwise, the cost to developing countries is too great. We must deliver the needed resources to create transformational change for safety.”
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