The event was opened by Tongji University President Fang Shouen. Irina Bokova, Former Director-General of UNESCO and Member of the FIA Senate, then spoke about the sustainable mobility challenge. Ms Bokova insisted on the need to change the way we plan and conceive the future of cities if we want to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. She also underlined the decisive part played by innovation in this process, especially as far as behavioural change and inclusiveness are concerned.

Thierry Willemarck, FIA Deputy President for Automobile Mobility and Tourism, then highlighted how the FIA can contribute to advance the Sustainable Mobility Agenda. He mentioned the advocacy work of the Federation in the field of road safety, taking the example of the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety and the #3500LIVES Global Road Safety Campaign. He also shed light upon the role of motor sport as a laboratory for automotive technology and innovation.

The road safety issue was further developed by UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh, who is also the Spokesperson for the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety. Embodying the ‘Use a Child Safety Seat’ Golden Rule in the #3500LIVES Campaign, Ms Yeoh highlighted the importance of child safety. She presented a few measures that could help protect the children in China: introduce a national child restraint law, reduce traffic speed in urban areas, create safe zones around school entrances, provide sidewalks and safe crossing points, etc.

Finally, FIA President Jean Todt concluded the Forum by insisting on the need to involve local stakeholders to tackle the global road safety challenge: “Characteristics of mobility differ from one country to another. Therefore, local actors are an excellent source of proposal to the authorities. Programmes and public policies can only be more effective if we take into account the valuable insights of research centres, academia, and universities. To this end, I congratulate the work promoted by the University of Tongji. Concretely, fighting against risky behaviours – alcohol, use of drugs, distracted driving – is surely a good way to address one of the major causes of road crashes, which is human error.”

He also urged China to actively participate in the 3^rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety that will be held in Sweden in 2020 to mark the conclusion of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, and to discuss how the global targets for road safety can be reached.

Alongside the FIA representatives, the floor was given to Director of Traffic Management Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security, Wang Changjun, who commented on the road safety status and practice in China. Yang Dongyuan, Former Vice President of Tongji University, also took part in the discussion to present the technical system in the Smart City framework and talk about the interaction between driver, vehicle and the road.