Undersecretary of Public Works Affairs at Bahrain’s Ministry of Works, Nayef Omar Al-Kalali, is to head Bahrain’s Works Ministry delegation to the First Global Ministerial Conference, which takes place from 19-20 November in Moscow, Russia, and is sponsored by the United Nations.

The delegation from the Ministry will also include Director of Roads Planning and Design, Huda Fakhro, and Senior Civil Engineer Mariam Essa.

The 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow is one of the major global events of 2009; and is expected to attract up to 1000-2000 participants from all over the world. It will be opened by the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev.

The two day conference is seen as a historic event, as it is the first to tackle the problem of road safety at a global level and with the support of the United Nations.

1,300,000 people perish in road crashes each year worldwide, and up to 50 million are injured and often disabled. According to expert’s appraisals, the death rate will increase twice by 2020. Moscow Conference comes to mark the transition from individual, regional and national programs on traffic safety to a global one that will take into account particularities of different countries and best world experience, thus become a breakthrough in the global fight for road safety; aiming to make the deaths counter turn backwards starting from November 2009.

The Moscow Conference will unite those who are dedicated to improving the safety of roads and develop a comprehensive and shared approach to the problem, where Ministers responsible for road safety will gather to make key decisions on global road safety through the exchange of best practices in road safety programs.

The global event will highlight various studies and solutions in road safety, through a number of extensive plenary sessions and panel discussions. Additional events will also take place within the two day event, including an official reception for heads of delegations.