The XXXVIII meeting of the Conference of General Directors of Railways of the member Countries of the Organization for Cooperation of Railways (COCR) will be held in Ashgabat on April 13-19, 2024.

This high–level COCR event, namely a meeting of one of the governing bodies – the Conference of General Directors - will allow us to assess joint successes in the field of transport over the past year, set benchmarks for the future and give new incentives for interaction between the international railway community. The Ashgabat Forum will also mark the 30th anniversary of the membership of the agency "Turkmendemiryollary" in the Organization.

The upcoming event will continue a series of important events initiated by Turkmenistan within the framework of transport diplomacy actively pursued by the Government of the country. The year 2023 was particularly eventful in this regard. Thus, on May 16, 2023, at the 70th plenary session of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, at the suggestion of Turkmenistan and with the unanimous support of the UN Member States, a Resolution was adopted according to which November 26 was declared World Sustainable Transport Day.

Many different events in the UN system and in Ashgabat were timed to coincide with the first celebration of this day. Among them, the V meeting on the international multimodal corridor "Asia–Pacific Countries – China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan –Azerbaijan – Georgia - Europe" (CASCA+), which took place on the eve, November 15-17, to discuss a number of issues and possibilities of applying tariff preferences for multimodal cargo transportation.

On November 26, the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Sustainable Transport: contribution to Sustainable Development" was held in the Turkmen capital in a hybrid format, bringing together high-ranking representatives of government and commercial structures of the transport industry, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations.

In addition, on November 14 of this year, Turkmenistan officially joined the Agreement on the Development of the TRACECA Eurasian Transport Corridor. The purpose of the document is to develop economic relations, trade and transport links in the regions of Europe and Asia, as well as to promote international cargo transportation, ensure traffic safety, harmonize transport policy and create equal conditions for competition between individual modes of transport. The law on Turkmenistan's accession to this Agreement was adopted by the country's parliament on September 30, and then signed by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov.

So Turkmenistan's busy transport agenda for 2023 gives a vigorous impetus to 2024, making our country the center of world transport diplomacy.

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