Tomas Eneroth: We are heading for an exciting future
“The competition is tough, so the key is to act now and for a long time into the future,” says Sweden’s infrastructure minister Tomas Eneroth.
The 19th edition of Elmia Lastbil was inaugurated on Wednesday afternoon and the trucks and haulage trade fair based in Jönköping, Sweden exuded optimism and a belief in the future.
“Sweden needs to be a permanent world exhibition for the industry. We must be the place people come to in order to look at smart transport solutions in terms of both climate targets and competitive goals,” Eneroth explains. “It’s clear that we’re heading for an exciting future in many different fields.”
This year Elmia Lastbil is celebrating its 35th anniversary. Since its launch in 1983, the fair has grown every time it has been held in terms of its exhibitor and visitor numbers. For this year’s fair, every square metre of the 75,000 available has been rented out, proof not only of a leading truck fair but also of a constantly growing industry.
“We must strengthen the capacity on our roads and it must also be exciting and attractive to work in this industry. We can achieve this with excellent results,” said Eneroth, who also took the opportunity of his inauguration speech to announce some major news:
“Tomorrow (23 August) we will launch a freight transport council, whose task will be to develop cooperation between the various transport modalities and to strengthen the dialogue between the authorities and industry.” One of the council members will be Rickard Gegö of the trade organisation for the Swedish haulage industry, the Swedish Association of Road Transport Companies.
A key concept for Tomas Eneroth during his inauguration speech was belief in the future: to meet the years ahead with enthusiasm and thereby greater interest in the industry.
“Sweden is an export-dependent industrial nation and so industry and haulage must function, both in terms of the environment, competition, and important controls on the roads. Sweden shall be an exhibition that the whole world wants to visit. We just have to assert ourselves a little,” he said. “And this fair demonstrates very clearly that the transport industry is important.”