The upgraded IRU Road Transport Indices forecast growth in GDP, transported tonnes and vehicle registrations in TRACECA countries, whereas the EU remains at a standstill.

Geneva – The IRU Road Transport Indices, an online data source of GDP growth, road freight transport volumes and new vehicle registrations in 51 countries* - now including quarterly forecasts for all countries in the Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) programme** - show growth in GDP, road transport volumes and vehicle registrations over the past 9 months, whereas the “old continent” appears to be lagging behind in all parameters.

Comparing TRACECA and EU figures for the first three quarters of 2010 reveals respectively:

    * a 1.5% increase in GDP, compared to a 0.6% decrease;
    * a 2.3% increase in tonnes transported vs a feeble 0.3% increase; and
    * a 2.2% increase in new vehicles registered in comparison to a slight 0.2% increase.

IRU Head of Sustainable Development, Jens Hügel, said, “In the first 9 months of 2010, TRACECA countries are forging ahead with the economic recovery, driven by road transport. It also becomes clear that if Europe wants to stay competitive in a globalised economy it must start promoting and further facilitating road transport to expedite economic recovery, as is being done in most all other regions of the world where significant growth is being recorded.”

Following the expansion of IRU Indices’ geographical scope to all OECD and EU Member States, as well as the Balkan, BRIC countries and now TRACECA countries,  the IRU has also upgraded its online application, which now provides country-by-country comparisons between TRACECA, OECD and EU countries.

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See country comparisons and comparative data, as well as IRU Indices methodology

*Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India,  Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia (FYROM), Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan.

** http://www.traceca-programme.eu/en/home/

Press contact: Juliette Ebélé, +41 22 918 27 07, press@iru.org