The international experts on the Technical Committees are a real asset to PIARC. These experts produce reports and organise knowledge-sharing seminars, and share their expertise with their peers. In doing so, they build up a network of resource people, whom they can contact throughout their careers. These experts are formally appointed by the Association's member countries, as they have a genuine mandate to represent their country.

At the start of the 2024-2027 four-year cycle, we can confirm that the participation of our experts is more than satisfactory. 71 countries have nominated 1,790 experts, 40% more than four years ago, which is a very significant increase. We brought them together in Paris in February for the kick-off meetings of the cycle. These very active meetings provided an opportunity to discuss the Association's missions and processes, as well as structural guidelines such as gender inclusion and diversity, promotion, partnerships and terminology. These meetings also gave Committee members the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the terms of reference that will guide their work over the next four years. For the first time, these structuring meetings were organised in hybrid mode, which enabled more participants to take part remotely. The meetings were highly productive, confirming the relevance of face-to-face meetings, and the first reports and international seminars are expected before the end of the year.

The discussions covered the technical priorities of the Strategic Plan such as road resilience, decarbonisation and road safety in particular. We also discussed the organisational priorities and asked the Committees to take these into account by appointing resource persons. Finally, the Committees have confirmed that they will be very keen to involve all their members throughout this cycle, even if they are unable to attend face-to-face meetings.

Without hesitation, PIARC is well on the way to continuing to help the road sector respond to societal challenges.