Major drive launched to shape future of motoring in Arab world

The newly formed Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs (ACTAC) will assume wide ranging responsibilities in the key areas of road safety, tourism, traffic, transportation and the environment.

Set up to ensure the unity of the automobile movement in the region, ACTAC aims to regulate and improve the range of services provided to motoring tourists and travellers.

It has been established with the full backing of the FIA (Federation Internationale De L'Automobile), which links 213 national motoring organisations from 125 countries worldwide, with Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the Automobile and Touring Club for the UAE, playing a pivotal role.

Hasan Alaeddin, CEO of the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan, has been nominated as ACTAC's first chairman. H.E.Shaikh Abdulla Bin Essa Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Motorsport Federation, and Kotb Soliman, Vice-Chairman & CEO of the Automobile and Touring Club of Egypt, has been nominated as Vice Chairmen of ACTAC.

The nominations, confirmed at a working group meeting in Bahrain last week, are expected to be ratified at the first General Assembly of the new body in Jordan in June.

A total of 31 motoring organisations from the GCC countries, the Levant, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine and Yemen will be invited to attend and support the initiative, which is being driven by Sulayem.

The working group was set up during the FIA's General Assembly in Paris last October when Sulayem, along with Peter Dogwiller, the FIA's Secretary General, and Ed Kok, CEO of the Automobile Association of South Africa, initiated talks with senior officials from Middle East and North African motoring clubs.

The group is receiving strong support and guidance from Dogwiller who attended last week's meeting in Bahrain as well as the group's first meeting in Cairo last month when ACTAC's major objectives were set out. These are to:

- Ensure the unity of the automobile movement and safeguard its interests

- Promote, develop and improve regional road safety, tourism, motor traffic, transportation and contribute to the improvement of the environment.

- Exercise jurisdiction in disputes between member organisations

- Assist with the establishment of new motoring clubs in the region and help them
earn affiliation to the FIA

- Promote cooperation and alliances with established motoring club members of the FIA worldwide

"Bringing together the many motoring organisations that are spread across the region is an important first step, and we hope they will all give strong support this initiative," said Sulayem. "We have a lot of work ahead of us to achieve the objectives and this is a long-term process. But there is already a lot of enthusiasm and commitment to make this work and with the backing of the FIA we hope to achieve our goals".