The largest event gathered delegations from 22 countries in the Turkmen capital: the Russian Federation, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, the DPRK, 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 a festive ceremony of welcoming high-ranking guests and opening the meeting took place today. After a colorful musical introduction, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov's greeting was read out to the participants of the event, in which the head of state emphasized Turkmenistan's active position in the development of transport and transit corridors and cooperation in this direction at the UN and other major international organizations.

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

"Being a member of the Organization for Cooperation of 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," said the message, which on behalf of the head of state was announced to the audience by the Director General of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan. Mammethan Chakyev.

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

Before the start of the forum, Miroslav Antonovich, Chairman of ORC, told ORIENT in an interview, the participants of the meeting are faced with the task of making coordinated decisions to improve railways as a global communication system, freight and passenger transportation processes, infrastructure, rolling stock and digitalization of the industry.

The meeting participants will also have to determine the Organization's development strategy for the future, both institutionally and in terms of environmental preference for rail transport.

The delegates will summarize the results of 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.

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