Brussels, Belgium – The EC-supported, ERTICO-coordinated project EU-India will organise a conference in Brussels 1 June 2006, aimed at giving an overview of current ITS priorities in India and explore possibilities for eSafety cooperation between the two regions.

India has one of the highest road accident rates in the world – more than 80,000 people are killed every year. Due to the phenomenal growth in the number of vehicles in the country, the need to upgrade India’s traffic management systems has become pressing. With traffic speeds being reduced to a crawl during most parts of the day in cities and accident rates showing no sign of decreasing, the need for smoother, safer road transport is greater than ever.

The upcoming EU-India event aims to address this need, and follows on from the last EU-India workshop held in Delhi in March 2006 . Opened by EU Ambassador to India Francisco Da Camara Gomez and attended by key ITS stakeholders from both regions, the March event was a big success and has paved the way for future collaborative efforts.

The 1 June EU-India conference in Brussels is open to all ITS stakeholders with an interest in cooperating with India. The morning session will include a presentation of ITS priorities in India from ITS India and potential areas for EU-India cooperation. Two main sessions are foreseen, including one on eSafety covering accident causation data collection, emergency response and crash testing and an afternoon session to discuss integrated traffic management in India including traffic management for Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010, fleet management and environmental monitoring.

To register for the event, please visit www.euindia.info The deadline for registration is 15 May 2006.

For more information, please contact ERTICO India Project Coordinator Priti Prajapati.