The Ministerial Transport Conference for Landlocked Developing Countries, held on August 15-16, 2022 in Avaza, ended with the adoption of the Final Statement.

The final session of the forum was held by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov. He summarized the two days of the conference, its results and planned decisions, discussions within thematic sections, statements made by the ministers, on the basis of which the final document was prepared.

Speaking about this document, Meredov noted that the statement highlights the growing role of transport connectivity for the sustainable recovery of landlocked countries after the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for expanding this interconnection and accelerating the implementation of the Vienna Program of Action.

The final statement acknowledges that while transport activity has begun to recover from the pandemic globally, the process is still fragile, with landlocked developing countries being left behind. Therefore, the allocated funds can make a significant difference in the development of sustainable transport infrastructure.

The document calls for the promotion of corridors and regional connectivity, integrated multimodal transport systems, and seamless transport and trade connections.

The Consolidated Statement also indicates that in order for landlocked countries to achieve better connectivity, it is important to strengthen cooperation with all stakeholders, to facilitate their transition to energy sources and technologies with low CO2 emissions, given that climate change may disrupt transit, trade supply chain.

It calls for increased investment and funding for projects in landlocked countries from various sources and notes the importance of regular high-level Ashgabat Process meetings, multi-stakeholder consultations, confidence-building measures and learning activities.

The statement also calls on landlocked and transit developing countries to actively participate in the preparations and work of the third UN conference on landlocked developing countries, which will be held in 2024 at the highest level.

The full text of the document can be found here.

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