PIARC plays an important role in the networking of infrastructure organisations. PIARC's focus has changed time and again over the last few decades and will continue to face new challenges in the future. In addition to maintaining the technical topics and the very close cooperation between high-income countries and low-income countries with all the associated challenges, other topics will also have to be increasingly addressed in PIARC in the future. Topics such as climate change, diversity and resilience of infrastructures will play an increasingly important role for PIARC. However, it is also necessary to ensure a solid and sustainable financial basis for PIARC and, if necessary, to guarantee this in the long term through new sources of income.

I am delighted to have been re-elected as one of the 25 representatives on the Executive Committee and I am particularly proud to have been elected PIARC-Vice-President together with Dharmananda Sarangi and Mamoudou Alassane Camara in the subsequent ballot.

For over 20 years, I have been closely associated with the PIARC World Road Association in various positions. Since the year 2000, I have been contributing to what is by now a total of five Technical Committees, and in the last three periods, I also fulfilled the role of working group leader within the Technical Committee each time. In doing so, I spearheaded the development of the Toolkit for Business Integrity for PIARC, amongst other things, which is used worldwide by ministries, road administrators, and the companies tasked with road operations for the analysis of their own integrity efforts.

I believe that my decades of experience in the infrastructure sector will enable me to support the further development of this organisation. I would like to do my part towards continuing the tradition of Austria’s high level of involvement in international cooperation since the founding of PIARC in the year 1909.

I look forward to working closely with my colleagues on the Executive Committee and all PIARC members to advance our shared goals, strengthen our network, and contribute to a sustainable and resilient future for road transport worldwide.