Nairobi, 17 Apr 13

The Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat Dr. Aisa Kacyira Kirabo and Mr. ChoongYeol Ye, Vice President for Planning & Administration, The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI) during the signing of the MOU, at the UN Headquarters Gigiri Nairobi, Photo © UN-Habitat/Musotsi

The UN-Habitat Deputy Executive Director Dr. Aisa Kacyira Kirabo in her speech during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) said that "cities in many developing countries are getting choked. Traffic congestion in urban areas is leading to increased fuel consumption and loss of productive time."

Mr. ChoongYeol (Peter) Ye, Vice President for Planning & Administration, KOTI emphasized that the partnership would go a long way in offering expertise to modernise urban transport systems in many UN-Habitat partner cities.

Urbanisation presents an enormous opportunity for developing countries. Rapid motorisation and traffic congestion has become major challenge for many cities. Better public transport including cost-effective and innovative options like Bus Rapid Transit integrated with walking and cycling facilities provide more sustainable options.

Both UN-Habitat and KOTI plan to advocate strongly for the UN-Habitat mandate in addressing today's urban issues through exchange of information for identifying areas of practical cooperation, plans of operations and joint implementation plans.