The annual UITP General Assembly wraps up in Brussels

On Wednesday 29 June, UITP staff and members were welcomed both in person and online for the hybrid UITP General Assembly and Annual Reception taking place at Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

We can proudly say the 2022 edition was a total success! This event saw several important resolutions passed – including an announcement on a brand new UITP geographic division, the showcasing of our 2021 Activity Report, and an inspirational speech from our keynote speaker.

Read on to get some of the key points below.

Each year, our General Assembly sees our members vote on several amendments, bylaws and resolutions which are important for the ongoing evolution of our organisation. Some notable approvals from this year included:

• The 2021 annual accounts
• The 2022 budget
• UITP’s 2022 work plan
• Our membership fee scale for 2023
• The establishment of a new ANZ Division (more on this below!)
• An amendment to our bylaws: the UITP Executive Board has been granted powers to approve changes in the structure of the secretariat, on proposal of the Secretary General
• A list of Honorary Titles for UITP members

UITP is constantly adapting as needed; with these approvals, our organisation goes from strength to strength!

UITP brings together all public transport and urban mobility stakeholders from across the globe. Our Divisions divide UITP members based on their region. At this year’s General Assembly, we were proud to officially launch the new UITP Australia-New Zealand Division.

This new division will ensure UITP positively broadens its global footprint. We look forward to working with our members in the region and promoting sustainable and urban mobility for all!

UITP had a productive and engaging 2021. What better place to show UITP members some key snapshots of our work than our annual gathering? So, this is exactly what Mohamed Mezghani, our Secretary General, did.

Presenting UITP stats to our members, our Secretary General noted that throughout 2021, UITP saw some significant figures in various projects. With 65 new members joining our association last year; over 2,000 attendees at UITP Academy training programmes; around 3,000 references in the international media from almost 100 countries; and over 100,000 social media engagements, we can say we achieved some wins! Discover more with the ‘UITP 2021 at a glance’ fact sheet here.

Following the main session of the General Assembly, our guests were treated to an ‘Inspirational Session’ with our keynote speaker and the graduation ceremony of the 2021 UITP Scholars.

First up was our inspirational speaker, Frédérique Bedos, French television and radio journalist, director, and documentary producer. In 2010, Frédérique founded the information NGO “The Imagine Project”, aiming to inform and inspire action.

Frédérique’s speech focused on her work with the Imagine Project and how through its inspirtational films, it hopes to build a more just world.

Following our keynote speech, the five graduating scholars of UITP’s scholarship programme joined digitally representing their home countries of India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and the Philippines.

Our scholars are from members and non-members of UITP and work across the public transport sector as officers, specialists, engineers, managers, lecturers and more.

As part of their requirements, the scholars completed their attendance to several UITP Academy online training programmes. Our inspirational session ended with their online graduation ceremony. We hope our scholars are truly proud of themselves!

We thank all UITP members, staff and attendees who joined us for this special day!