LCN Newsroom · Georgetown, Guyana · 22 July 2026
AT A GLANCE The 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress opened in Georgetown on Wednesday, 22 July 2026. Chairman Randell Iwasaki addressed delegates from more than 30 Caribbean countries, opening with the MV Barima ferry tragedy and placing transport safety at the centre. |
What did the Road Federation’s chairman say at the opening?
The International Road Federation opened its 13th Caribbean Regional Congress in Georgetown on Wednesday, and its chairman began not with roads but with the sea. Randell Iwasaki, elected to lead the global transport body in December 2025, told delegates that safety is the first duty of anyone who moves people for a living. He set that duty against the MV Barima disaster still unfolding off Guyana’s coast.
Iwasaki spent four decades in California’s transport agencies, among them Caltrans and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. He described the hardest moment of a public-works career as facing the family of a worker killed on the job. Every safety policy, he suggested, exists so that visit never has to happen.
What is the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress?
The Congress runs from 21 to 24 July, hosted by Guyana’s Ministry of Public Works. It is the second time the country has staged the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress since 2019, when it held the eighth edition. The Federation created the series in 2012 to give more than 30 countries and territories a dedicated forum on transport, and it now presents the meeting as the region’s main gathering of road and transport leaders.
This year’s programme concentrates on road safety and Vision Zero, climate resilience, sustainable infrastructure finance, and the shift toward electric mobility. Asset management and regional connectivity round out the agenda. The Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank have backed the congress since its first staging, and Iwasaki thanked all three.
The chairman also singled out a Guyanese engineer and 2011 IRF fellowship recipient, a graduate of Ohio State University, for steering the local organisation, and thanked him by name.
Why is Guyana hosting the congress now?
Iwasaki called Guyana a different country from the one he last visited, and the figures support him. The Federation cites average annual growth near 47 per cent since 2022, the fastest in the world, driven by offshore oil and heavy public spending. The chairman pointed to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway upgrade, four-lane roads along the Demerara corridors, new bridges and climate-resilient design as evidence of a network being rebuilt at pace.
He pressed the same case for maintenance. A country has to care for what it builds, he said, and asset management deserves the attention that new construction attracts. The point carries in a city that opened the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge only last October.
How does the MV Barima disaster connect to the congress?
The safety theme carried extra weight this week. As delegates prepared to discuss forgiving roads and Vision Zero, search teams were still recovering bodies from the MV Barima, the passenger ferry that capsized on 18 July between Georgetown and Port Kaituma. By Tuesday evening the confirmed death toll had reached at least 53, with dozens still missing.
Guyana’s own transport-safety conversation has been building for months, from crash data to a national summit on the sector. The ferry tragedy has now pulled the maritime side of that conversation to the front.
What happens over the rest of the week?
Two days of technical sessions follow the opening, covering pavements, road-injury risk, asset management and inclusive transport. Iwasaki asked delegates to leave Georgetown with actions they can carry home. In a week when Guyana is counting its dead at sea, the plea to treat safety as a first principle rather than a closing slide was hard to miss.
Frequently asked questions
When and where is the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress held?
In Georgetown, Guyana, from 21 to 24 July 2026, hosted by the Ministry of Public Works.
Who is Randell Iwasaki?
A veteran California transport engineer and administrator, elected chairman of the International Road Federation in December 2025.
How many countries take part?
The congress convenes delegates from more than 30 Caribbean countries and territories.
What are the main themes this year?
Road safety and Vision Zero, climate resilience, sustainable infrastructure finance, and electric mobility.
Which institutions support the congress?
The Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.