asked the Minister for Transport and Power the purpose and outcome of the recent Transport Conference at Madrid which he attended.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Madrid Transport Conference.
9.
Mr. O'Donnell
This conference was, in fact, a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport. The council meets twice a year to review progress by the conference in its aims of achieving the most rational development of European inland transport of international importance and with coordinating and promoting the activities of various international organisations concerned both technically and otherwise with the development of European inland transport. The council provides a forum for Ministers and an opportunity to develop co-operation in this important field at political level.
The meeting which I attended on the 16th and 17th June was, as usual, held in private. The council considered a number of reports which had been prepared by the committees and working groups of the conference and reviewed progress in the development of a comman general transport policy, in relation with EEC and OECD, and in the fields of railway problems, road safety and co-ordination of road traffic rules. Proposals for further study and action in these fields including steps to implement the agreement already reached for an experimental multilateral quota for international road freight transport were approved.