Dubai's RTA Gears up to Host the 59th UITP World Congress & Exhibition

DUBAI, UAE, February 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) is gearing up to host the 59th UITP World Congress and Exhibition entitled "Boosting Public Transport: Action!". The global industry event will promote, discuss and debate the International Organization for Public Transport's (UITP) strategy of doubling public transport market share worldwide by 2025. The event, which takes place from April 10-14 2011, will be a great platform for industry professionals across all areas of transportation to meet, network and showcase the latest innovations in vehicles, information technologies, equipment and services. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, will officially open the Exhibition. This is the first time since its inception that the UITP World Congress and Exhibition is held outside Europe, a clear acknowledgement of the position of Dubai as a global business center and the growing importance of the public transport sector in the UAE and the wider region.

Complimentary Transport for Delegates

Delegates from around the world who will be attending the event will benefit from complimentary transportation services offered by the RTA said a spokesperson for the authority. According to Furat Ali Al Amri, Director of Buses at RTA's Public Transport Agency and Head of the Transportation Team during this global event, free Silver NOL cards will be provided to participants in the event to facilitate their movement to and from the venue of the event at the Dubai World Trade Center and within the city for the duration of the event. It is also the first time that the local host offers these facilities for participating delegates, as the NOL cards will allow them to use the Dubai metro and buses free of charge.

Sponsorship

The event is on course to be a great success as 29,400msquared of the floor space has already been sold, hence 98% of the total space available. Dubai has already exceeded the size of the previous two UITP Congress & Exhibition events in Vienna and Helsinki respectively. The RTA has almost completed the sale of its sponsorship programme for event; already 60% of the sponsorships for the event have been secured at a value of over two million dollars. Event sponsors include Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea's largest automaker, Energy International Corporation (EIC), a full-service engineering, procurement and construction company; Thales, a major electronic systems company acting in various areas including transportation; Bombardier, a global transportation company in aerospace and rail; Alstom, a world leader in transport infrastructure, power generation and transmission; Arabian Automobiles Company (AAC), one of the leading automotive distributors in the Emirate. Other event sponsors in include ETA Ascon Group, a UAE-based contracting firm; Kenkart, an automatic fare collection and vehicle tracking system, Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company; and SECURITAS, a knowledge leader in security.

Involving Dubai's Youth

Students from the American University in Dubai (AUD), Zayed University, Dubai Men's college, and Dubai Women's College will have the opportunity to shape the future of public transport at the Youth Forum during the event. Through the Youth Forum, young visionaries will be invited to take part in discussions about the possible new solutions that can be developed to establish a better transportation world, ensure effectiveness of the public transport systems and work towards innovation and sustainability.

The RTA will be organizing a number of workshops in the local universities to encourage UAE students to go on http://www.youthforpt.org, an online forum on public transport, to suggest innovative ideas and solutions under six key topics that they think could be transformed into projects that contribute to sustainable public transport and the environment. UITP will then give a select number of students around world and give them topics so that they can work on actual projects to present at the Youth Forum. UAE students who participated in the online forum and submitted ideas will represent the UAE as one group and will be assigned one project that they will present, with young managers from the RTA, at the Youth Forum on the last day of the event. The Youth Forum workshops will take place from April 9-13 with the final session taking place on April 14th, where UAE students will present and discuss their project with fellow youths from around the world. The Youth Forum will bring youths aged 20-37 from countries such as Italy, Germany, Finland, France, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, India and the UAE.

For more information, please contact Noha Habib or Hala Sarieddine, Weber Shandwick MENA, Phone: +971-4-321-0077, Fax: +971-4-32-11-711, Email: [email protected], [email protected]

SOURCE Dubai?s Road and Transport Authority (RTA)