During their meeting at Schiphol Airport, Fleet Forum was highly praised by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Bot. "The Fleet Forum proves that business principles and humanitarian ideals are not mutually exclusive. Commercial and government organisations can learn from each other, contribute to development cooperation and set an example for others." In the Fleet Forum UN agencies, companies, aid organisations, donors, sponsors and governmental services join their forces. It was founded in 2003 to bring together technical experts and aid agency managers to improve humanitarian transports. Vehicles represent a major proportion of the assets of aid organisations, second only to personnel costs. The participants in the Fleet Forum operate some 50.000 vehicles with an estimated annual operating cost of USD $800 million. Minister Bot called the Fleet Forum an excellent example of a public-private partnership in development cooperation. "With TNT's logistics expertise, the humanitarian know-how and experience of the World Food Programme and the Red Cross, and World Vision International's knowledge of local circumstances, humanitarian aid can be delivered better, faster and at much lower cost." He particularly welcomed Fleet Forum's efforts in improving the logistics in the war-ridden country Sudan. Minister Bot: "As we speak, thousands of people are using unsafe roads and rivers to return to South Sudan. The UN estimates that between five hundred thousand and one and half million people will follow their example in the near future. The participants in the Fleet Forum are already doing excellent work under very trying conditions. There are few, if any, paved roads in the region, distances are enormous and the roads are perilous. On top of that, unmapped minefields make large parts of the area inaccessible. Some humanitarian aid is transported by air. In places where aircraft cannot land, packages can be dropped from the air. Striking the right balance between air and road transport is not only cost-effective and efficient, it can be a matter of life and death." P+ Webtip: Fleet Forum