29th IRU World Congress – Opening Speech (Highlight)

Opening Ceremony Speeches
His Imperial Highness Prince AKISHINO
Paul LAEREMANS President, IRU
Takao TAKAHASHI President, JTA, Japan
Yousuke TSURUHO Parliamentary Secretary for Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan
Shinya IZUMI Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan
Shogo ARAI Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Japan
Shigefumi MATSUZAWA Governor, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Tsuneo NAKAHARA Vice-President, ITS Japan, Japan
John PATRICK Internet Visionary, Author, former VP Internet Technologies, IBM, USA
Kujtim ISMAILI Director, ANALTIR, Albania
Roger KING Chief Executive, Road Haulage Association, UK
Hojatollah BEHROUZ Managing Director, Iran Terminal Organisation, Iran

Highlights of John Patrick’s speech

“The Internet is empowering con- sumers to find and buy like never before. The result is a larger require- ment for road transport to transfer the purchased goods and services through all of the elements of the supply chain. The increasing demands made by consumers are putting pressure on the supply chain, from raw materials to finished goods.”
“The road transport companies of the world must empower themselves with information technology to respond to this major opportunity. Road transport companies will play a key role in the future but only those which create an integrated, on- demand capability will survive.”

A YouTube video entitled Best of the 29th IRU World Congress may be seen here.