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The 38th meeting of the Council of Managers and Responsible Representatives of Railway Transport of the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) member states opened in Ashgabat.

The largest event brought together delegations from 22 countries in the Turkmen capital: the Russian Federation, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, the Republic of Korea, Laos, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and, of course, the host country - Turkmenistan.

The forum takes place from April 15 to 19 in the conference hall of the Yildiz Hotel, where today a festive ceremony was held to welcome high-ranking guests and open the meeting. After a colorful musical introduction, a greeting from President Serdar Berdimuhamedov was read to the participants of the event, in which the head of state emphasized the active position of Turkmenistan in the development of transport and transit corridors and cooperation in this direction at the sites of the UN and other major international organizations.

The President noted that during the days of this important meeting - from April 16 - the Sustainable Development Week of the UN General Assembly is being held in New York, and within its framework there will be a ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, created on the initiative of Turkmenistan, as well as a high-level meeting on sustainable transport.

“Being a member of the Organization for Cooperation between Railways since 1994, Turkmenistan has been pursuing a coordinated transport policy aimed at the harmonious development of railway infrastructure at the national level, as well as transit international cargo transportation on a regional scale,” the message says, which was announced to the audience on behalf of the head of state Director General of the Agency of Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Mammetkhan Chakyev.

Then the delegations of the railway transport departments of the OSJD member states began to consider the agenda and materials of the meeting.

As OSJD Chairman Miroslav Antonovich said before the start of the forum in an interview with ORIENT, the participants of the meeting are faced with the task of making agreed decisions on improving railways as a global communication system, processes of freight and passenger transportation, infrastructure, rolling stock and digitalization of the industry.

Also, the meeting participants will have to determine the Organization’s development strategy for the future, both institutionally and in terms of the environmental preference of railway transport.

Delegates will summarize the work of the task forces for 2023 in such areas as infrastructure and structure of railway traffic, the procedure for mutual settlements between railways and the debt settlement mechanism, etc.

ORIENT news

Photo: orient.tm