THE ASSOCIATION INCREASES ITS LABOR REPRESENTATION BY ATTENDING SEVERAL INSTITUTIONAL EVENTS REGARDING ETHIOPIA, SLOVENIA, CROATIA, OMAN, BAHRAIN AND KUWAIT
On March 11th, Mafex attended, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, the “Business Meeting” this Ministry organized with the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia. During the meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, the Director of Mafex, Pedro Fortea, the Association had
occasion to meet with officials of the railways in Slovenia.
Furthermore, Mafex participated as a speaker at a roundtable organized by ICEX on June 16th in Madrid and counted with the presence of railway personalities from Ethiopia. The Spanish Railway Association used its presence to publicize the great Spanish experience in the railway sector.
In line with the participation in various sectorial activities, during the XVIII Pan American Congress of Traffic, Transport and Logistics Engineering (PANAM), organized on June 13th by the research group for Transport Systems (GIST) of the University of Cantabria , Mafex participated in the conference on “The Railway Market, today and beyond.”
Supporting the railways
Railway capabilities from twenty Spanish companies were exposed during the conference “The Spanish technological offer in the railway sector”, organized on May 26th in Zagreb by ICEX Spain Export and Investment along with the Economic and Trade Office in Zagreb, ADIF and HZ INFRASTRUKTURA and the Croatian rail administrator. The Director of Mafex, Pedro Fortea, participated as a moderator of one of the panels, which focused on the Spanish experience in traffic control equipment and security systems. The development of the railway sector in Croatia is considered a priority by the EU and other multilateral agencies, having almost completed the construction of the motorway network in the country.
Within the plan of activities for 2014, Mafex organized in collaboration with ICEX, a Study Mission to Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait from April 27th to May 1st in order to maintain, establish and strengthen contacts with major public entities from the railway in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait among which are the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Oman, the King Fahad Causeway Authority, the Ministry of Communications of Bahrain and the Ministry of Communications and Metro of Kuwait.
UNIFE General Assembly
The General Assembly of UNIFE (Association of European Railway Industries) was held during June 11-13 in London. Mafex, representing the Spanish railway sector in the Committee of National Associations of UNIFE Association, attended the various committees in which prominent members of DG MOVE, Railway Gazette and Network Rail, among others, discussed the issues that most affect the industry, such as the implementation of ERTMS, Shift2Rail or the state of the rail sector in the UK systems. The Committee of National Associations also took place, where Mafex participates and there are discussions of vital issues at a European level such as the Fourth Railway Package, Regional and Structural Funds and the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Japan, the United States or Russia.
