The entire 27th World Road Congress team is currently fully mobilised, despite the extreme summer heat that the Czech capital is currently experiencing, to make the Prague Congress a memorable event. And that's exactly how it's shaping up to be, in terms of the number of registrants and national pavilions, the square metres of exhibition space sold and the number of ministers who have accepted the invitation from their Czech counterpart. But even more than the numbers, the main attraction is the richness and quality of the technical programme, which has just been published.

Rarely has a conference been so comprehensive, with such a wealth of parallel events beyond the traditional technical sessions. Attendees should come away from the conference delighted, which is why each and every one of you should register as soon as possible, so as not to miss out on this highlight of PIARC's life and, if you have already done so, convince any undecided colleagues to join you.

The last few weeks before the Congress are also a busy time for the publication of reports: the Technical Committees are putting the finishing touches, and we hope to publish many new reports by the time we meet in Prague. For the 2020-2023 work cycle, PIARC had set itself the goal of publishing more documents, and more often over the four years. We have achieved this, as we have just put our 54th report online, which is already more than for the previous cycle. A number of others will be published before and after the congress. The rate of translation into Spanish and French is also higher. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Technical Committees and Task Forces for the seriousness of their commitment.