Oriented on making people closer

The 46th session of the ministerial conference of the Organization for Cooperation of Railways ministers (OSJD), which was attended by the delegation of Turkmenistan, wrapped up in Bishkek.

The meeting of the governing body of OSJD was attended by ministers and authorized representatives of railway administrations of 24 OSJD member countries, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Georgia, Kazakhstan, China, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Estonia.

Several international organizations also sent delegates: UNECE Inland Transport Committee, Intergovernmental Organization for International Railway Transport (OTIF), International Railway Transport Committee (CIT), International Union of Railways (UIC) and others.

The session agenda included a number of organizational issues. The reports of the activities of the OSJD for 2017 were heard. The results of the activities of the working bodies of OSJD – the Commission on transport policy and development strategy and the Commission on transport law were presented.

Information was also provided on the 4th session of the International conference for the adoption of the draft Convention on international through railway traffic. This document will consolidate the new intergovernmental status of the organization itself, and will also be aimed at regulating issues related to the smooth international rail transport of goods and passengers.

Among the main results of the current session of OSJD is the decision to accept South Korea as a member of the organization. Thus, the organization not only expanded its membership, but also ensured the integration of Korea’s railway network into the Eurasian transport system.

Also, the Council of Ministers considered the issue of developing recommendations on common approaches in the field of training. Thus, the OSJD Committee was instructed to hold a Conference "Training in the field of rail transport: new challenges and opportunities for the growth of professional competencies" in October of this year at the Russian University of transport.

The participants of the meeting outlined the preliminary agenda for the next session, to be held in June 2019 in Uzbekistan.

OSJD is an international organization established in 1956 in Sofia (Bulgaria) at the meeting of ministers for railway transport.

The activities of this structure are aimed at the development and improvement of international railway transportation with the traffic between and Asia in the first place, to include combined transportation, the formation of a coherent transport policy, the improvement of international transport law, cooperation on the solution of the problems connected with the economic, information, scientific, technological and ecological aspects of railway transport.

The operational length of all railways of OSJD member countries is currently 276,376 km, which ensure turnover of almost 5 billion tons of cargo and 3.5 billion of passengers.

13 OSJD corridors have been adopted. 3 of them pass via Turkmenistan – corridor No. 6, stretching from Central Europe, through Turkey and Iran to the borders of Turkmenistan; corridor No. 8, connecting Russia and Central Asia; corridor No. 10 or TRACECA.