Minister Kupka attended the summit of the International Transport Forum in Leipzig25/5/2023|Press releasesHundreds of representatives from countries around the world are meeting in Leipzig these days for the International Transport Forum Summit. Thursday's part of the three-day programme was also attended by Czech transport minister Martin Kupka. With his ministerial colleagues responsible for transport, he discussed current global transport challenges, transport aid to Ukraine and the making of transport greener. On the sidelines of the joint programme, minister Kupka also attended a number of important bilateral meetings. "The meeting in Leipzig is a great opportunity to negotiate and deepen transport relations even with countries with which the Czech Republic is not in such close contact. The whole transport world meets in one place. Transport is facing similar new challenges across the planet: in technological development and reducing environmental impacts. I am very pleased that today's talks have opened the door to further deepening cooperation between the world's regions, because transport connects us all," said transport minister Martin Kupka. In the framework of the programme International Transport Forum (ITF) the minister participated in a roundtable discussion on the transport situation in embattled Ukraine, which followed the last meeting in polish city of Rzeszów. "The assistance of Czech companies to Ukraine is also visible in the field of transport. For example they are now helping rebuild war-damaged infrastructure. Buses from a number of Czech towns are now helping transport children to schools in Ukraine and Czech-made temporary bridges are now in the place of the destroyed bridges. The topic of the medium and long term will be the renewal and construction of railway infrastructure where the main lines leading from the European Union to Ukraine should receive the standard European gauge. So this will actually be completely new construction in which our Czech businesses could participate," says minister Kupka. In addition to the joint meetings, minister Kupka also met with his South Korean counterpart, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong. This was a follow-up to the last meeting which took place during the March visit of the Minister of Transport to South Korea. The main topic of the meeting was cooperation in the preparation of high-speed rail lines. "On Monday 22 May the Czech-Korean working group for high-speed rail lines met for the first time. The possibility of exchanging information from HSL design and operation is very valuable for us. South Korea is one of the world leaders in this field, so we work with the most successful ones," Kupka appreciated the exchange of experience. An important topic of informal talks with European partners was the negotiation of changes to the draft EURO 7 emissions standard. Minister Kupka also spoke about it with the CEO of Renault and the current President of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, Luca de Meo. European carmakers are among the opponents of the current draft of the emissions standard, which could drain the resources needed to move to zero-emission mobility. "We were the first to clearly describe last year how the Euro 7 standard is flawed. We have tried to get other countries to support our position since then and have succeeded. At the moment we have a strong coalition of eight countries that are in favour of a more reasonable form of EURA 7. My meeting with Luca de Meo then confirmed to me once again that our reservations are shared by representatives of the European car market," Kupka said. At the end of his stay in Leipzig, minister Kupka met with representatives of the French group RATP (Régie autonome des transports parisiens)which provides most of the public transport around Paris, including the Paris metro. At the centre of the debate was the experience with the automation of the metro in Paris which began in the 1980s. Work is currently under way on the finishing of the launch of fully automated line 4, which can be great inspiration for the preparation of the operation of the Prague metro line D, which should also be automated.