Puente advocates for a preventative and proactive approach to infrastructure management in the face of extreme weather events

The Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, at the International Transport Forum

Óscar Puente attended the ministerial summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF), the intergovernmental body on transport that brings together OECD transport ministers every two years in Leipzig to discuss strategies and governance policies for transport and mobility.

On the second day of this biennial meeting, countries emphasised the urgent need to strengthen the resilience of national and cross-border infrastructure to adapt it and make it more resistant to the effects of climate change. In their respective presentations, the transport ministers shared their own experiences and the responses each country has given to this challenge. The issue, which was also addressed yesterday in the plenary session, has generated broad consensus regarding the need to act as soon as possible to prevent further destruction and greater economic damage in the future.

Puente stressed the need to change the approach to infrastructure management, moving from a reactive to a preventive approach based on planning. The devastating effects of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, as is the case in Spain, meaning that action by countries is no longer optional.

In this regard, Puente noted that immediate action will also result in cost savings, since resources invested now in prevention will not need to be spent on reconstruction, which will also free up more budget allocations for economic growth.

Support for Ukraine

During the day, Óscar Puente held another round of international meetings, this time with representatives from Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Puente conveyed Spain's support to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba in the face of Russian aggression and offered Spain's assistance in repairing and developing Ukrainian infrastructure. This meeting follows up on the recent meeting between the President of the Government of Spain Pedro Sánchez and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the need for collaboration between Renfe and Ukrainian railways was emphasised.

The same spirit of collaboration was extended to the subsequent meeting with Czech Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ivan Bednárik, to whom Puente offered the expertise of companies such as Renfe, Talgo, and Ineco to further collaborate on railway modernisation, interoperability, and intermodality in Czech transport.

Non official translation