Abstract
Of course, road transport has a key role to play in the economic recovery and development of the countries in transition. It is road transport, in co-operation with other transport modes, which will drive local economies towards efficiency and will open the door to new markets, if transport policies adopted at national and international level allow them to do so.
Experience in Central Europe shows that, during the transitional period, road transport has been the only transport mode which not only responded adequately to the new demands of the economy and trade in the countries of the region but also, in some cases, its own spectacular growth has in itself been an incentive for trade. In recent years, road transport operators have been the real pioneers in opening up their countries towards both East and West.