EASST facilitates panel discussion on impactful road safety and mobility projects at FIA Annual General Assembly in Tashkent
On 9 December, EASST, partnered with the FIA, FIA Foundation, and the National Autosport and Karting Federation of Uzbekistan (NAFKU), to organise a panel discussion on implementing impactful road safety mobility projects at the FIA Annual General Assembly in Tashkent.
The event, titled “How to implement impactful road safety mobility projects: challenges and opportunities,” brought together road safety experts, government officials, and FIA Club representatives to share technical expertise and lessons learned from successful projects across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Held at the Hilton Tashkent Hotel, the panel was moderated by EASST’s Emma MacLennan and featured opening remarks from Anvar Ergashev, Chairman of NAFKU. The event was honoured by the participation of senior Uzbek government officials, including representatives from the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Road Safety Service, and members of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament).
The discussion focused on three key themes: how successful mobility projects can benefit Clubs, strategies for engaging with governments to achieve effective project results, and the crucial role of community and stakeholder engagement in road safety initiatives.
Willem Groenewald, Secretary General for Mobility & Sustainability at the FIA, and Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of the FIA Foundation, participated in the Q&A session, alongside Club representatives from across the region. Vusal Rajabli from AMAK in Azerbaijan, Tatiana Mihailova from the ACM in Moldova, and Chinara Kasmambetova from Public Association ‘Road Safety’ in Kyrgyzstan, shared their experiences of implementing road safety projects in their respective countries.
The panel provided an excellent platform to showcase regional road safety initiatives, including the award-winning work of the Automobile Club of Moldova, winner of the 2023 FIA President’s Award for Road Safety, and NAFKU’s ongoing project with Uzum Tezkor to improve road safety for bike couriers across Uzbekistan as part of FIA’s ‘Safe Helmets’ initiative.
The interactive discussion session enabled FIA Clubs and audience members to learn from these successful projects, supporting capacity building and the replicability of effective road safety initiatives across regions. The event demonstrated the collective expertise of EASST’s network of six FIA Clubs and our commitment to reducing road death and injury across Central Asia and the wider region.
Elsewhere during the Assembly, the work of our EASST network was further celebrated as our recent Star Rating for Schools project with Public Association ‘Road Safety’ and the Federation of Auto Motorsport and Road Safety of the Kyrgyz Republic (FAMS) was highlighted at the FIA Foundation’s Annual Meeting, while Tatiana Mihailova of the Automobile Club of Moldova was elected as Vice Chair of COFO, the FIA’s Coordination Forum for Eastern and Central European Clubs.