Óscar Puente advocates for greater infrastructure resilience to address climate change at the International Transport Forum

The Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, speaks at the opening plenary session of the International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany

Óscar Puente participated in the opening plenary session of the International Transport Forum (ITF), the intergovernmental organisation within the OECD that analyses national and global policies for all modes of transport.

On the eve of the annual summit of transport ministers to be held tomorrow, the ITF opened these sessions in the German city of Leipzig with a plenary meeting that aims to focus the debate on the cost of not investing in infrastructure resilience. A cost that, as the minister pointed out, will increase over time if immediate action is not taken, since the efforts, resources, and funding spent on reconstruction are resources that cannot be allocated to economic growth in the future. A perfect example of this is Spain, a "testing ground" where the destructive capacity of climate change on infrastructure is evident.

For all these reasons, the Spanish minister advocated for a shift from a reactive to a predictive approach when planning a country's infrastructure, incorporating resilience criteria into the design, construction, management, and maintenance of infrastructure. This change in approach would imply a change in construction standards since, as Puente highlighted in his speech, 20th-century infrastructure is not capable of withstanding the effects of climate change.

Bilateral meetings

The Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility took advantage of his trip to Leipzig to meet with several international leaders from the public and private sectors in the mobility industry, including Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, and Michael Peter, CEO of Siemens.

In addition, Óscar Puente had the opportunity to greet the Vice Minister of Transport of China, Li Yang, whom he had already met during his recent visit to the Asian country to learn first-hand about the development of its railway industry and to draw lessons that can be applied to promote the AV350 project in Spain.

About the ITF

The International Transport Forum (ITF) is an intergovernmental organisation within the OECD and is the only global international organisation dedicated to transport in all its modes.. It currently has 69 member countries, including Spain, and serves as a leading forum for the analysis and formulation of public transport policies. In addition to hosting the main international summit of transport ministers annually in Leipzig, the ITF also promotes regional dialogues, including those held in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Spain's participation in the ITF has traditionally been active, reflecting the importance of the transport sector in our country and Spain's interest in contributing to key international debates in this field. Within the framework of the ITF, Spain has also strengthened its contacts with third countries, including those outside the European Union, particularly with partners in Latin America, using this forum as a space for cooperation, political dialogue, and the exchange of best practices in transport.

Non official translation