Eighty world organizations took part in the 11th Annual Fleet Forum Conference held for the first time in the region. The event was opened in Dubai’s International Humanitarian City (IHC) on April 1, according to a report in Gulf News.

Fleet Forum, founded in 2003, is a non-profit entity that provides a collaborative platform for sharing ideas and the recognition of excellence and leadership in effective fleet management.

By focusing on the development of effective practices in the areas of road safety, environmental impact, and cost-efficiency, Fleet Forum is helping organizations meet their organizational and corporate goals, according to the report

Hilal Saeed Al Merri, Director General of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre and member of the IHC’s Board of Directors, spoke about the important role that logistics plays in effective humanitarian aid and development in his opening speech: “We understand the power of transportation and logistics and appreciate the work of the Fleet Forum. With more than half of the major humanitarian crises occurring in the MENA region, Dubai was geographically placed to provide a center for humanitarian organizations.”

The focus at the conference this year was the impact that is achieved through collaboration, defined in the conference theme of “Gather, Share, Change.”

The conference brought together the expertise of personnel from international non-government organizations (NGOs) that work in the humanitarian aid and development sector, international companies that supply products and services for transport and logistics, donor organizations, academic institutions with global recognition in transport and logistics, and intergovernmental organizations, such as the agencies of the United Nations, including the World Food Program (WFP), and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).