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The Forum "International Transport and Transit Corridors: Interconnectedness and Development" (ITTC 2023) will be held on May 3-4 in Ashgabat. Its agenda includes post-pandemic recovery and adaptation to new realities in the field of cross-border transport, the development of efficient transit corridors.

A new geo-economic landscape of Eurasia is being formed, and transport corridors are the cornerstone of this process. A more interconnected world also means building a more prosperous economy, which is why transport, as one of the most important elements of the competitiveness of companies, cities and countries, remains the core of economic growth and social development.

This has always been the case, both during the Great Silk Road and in the current post-soviet era, when transport took on the mission to restore the broken ties and establish new, stronger, more stable ones.

ITTC 2023 is organized by the Agency of Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan in partnership with the company "Turkmen Forum".

For the first time such a forum was held in the Turkmen capital in July 2022. Then he gathered more than 400 delegates from dozens of companies and organizations from different countries. The great success of the forum and the great desire of its foreign participants to develop a dialogue with Turkmenistan became the key to a new meeting in Ashgabat of players and experts of the transport market of the region, the continent and the world.

This year, interest in the forum is even higher, which indicates the extreme relevance of its topics: transport corridors, transit and logistics. Only about 300 companies and organizations will be represented at ITTC 2023, and there are about a thousand participants from them.

Moreover, almost all, or at least the overwhelming majority of them, expressed a desire for personal presence at the Ashgabat site. And of course, there will be an opportunity to join discussions online. Delegates have been arriving in the Turkmen capital since the end of April.

In General, the geography of ITTC 2023 includes USA, Austria, Azerbaijan, UAE, Belarus, great Britain, Bulgaria, Armenia, Estonia, Iran, France, Kazakhstan, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, India, Croatia, China, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Norway, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Japan, Israel, Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, etc.

The impressive list of delegates includes representatives of well-known international companies such as SpaceX, Alibaba, Airbus, Boeing, General Electric, Lufthansa, Thales, Cargo Lux, Fly Dubai, Turkish Airlines, Dragon Oil, Vitol, Lukoil, Lenovo, Hyundai, Toyota, Casale, Sumitomo, KazGrain, Russian Railways, international transport organizations: IATA (International Air Transport Association), ICS (International Chamber of Shipping), IRU (International Road Transport Union), UN, and many others.

The event will focus on infrastructure opportunities in the transport complex: highways, seaports, airports, railways, which are involved and can be involved in Eurasian cargo flows in the East–West and North–South directions.

The meetings and panel discussions of the conference will be attended by representatives of numerous international organizations and financial institutions, such as the UN, OSCE, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, as well as diplomatic missions accredited in Turkmenistan.

Among the key speakers will be Mammetkhan Chakiyev, Director General of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, and the chairmen of the agencies included in this structure. Many bilateral meetings from foreign companies have also been requested with the leadership of the transport and communications sector.

Private transport and logistics companies will also take part in the forum, which also plans to hold business meetings with foreign potential partners on the sidelines of the forum.

Within the framework of the event, an industry exhibition will be organized, among the participants of which are transport and logistics centers, manufacturers and dealers of motor vehicles, equipment suppliers, administrations of seaports, airports and railways, etc.

Corridors and modes of their functioning are the essence of the interest that Turkmenistan arouses with its geographical location and the possibilities of multimodal transport. And in order to fully exploit these advantages, it is necessary to launch common mechanisms that take into account the interests of all participants in the transportation market. That is, to make cooperation more efficient by integrating supply chains by road, rail, air and sea, reducing costs by removing bureaucratic barriers, promoting digitalization and adopting mutually acceptable payment mechanisms.

This is the plot of the Ashgabat forum "International Transport and Transit Corridors: interconnectedness and Development", which begins on Wednesday, May 3.

ORIENT news

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