On April 16, the first Ministerial meeting of the Friends of Sustainable Transport Group was held at the UN Headquarters under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan. It was attended by Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN Aksoltan Atayeva, Chairman of the Agency "Turkmendeñizderýaýollary" Batyr Annaev, heads of transport departments, headas and representatives of diplomatic missions to the UN of the Group's member countries, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Li Junhua, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Road Safety Jean Todt, Secretary General of the SLOCAT Partnership for Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport Marusha Kardama, President of the Turkic Investment Fund Bagdad Amreyev, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Friends of Sustainable Transport Group, Honorary Chairman of the International Road Transport Union Martin Marmi, Executive Secretary of the International Center for Transport Diplomacy (ICTD) Igor Runov, as well as invited Permanent Missions from among the co-authors of the UN General Assembly resolutions on transport, representatives of research institutes and academia.
The speakers informed about the goals, objectives and activities of the Friends of Sustainable Transport Group, established on the initiative of Turkmenistan. Having placed special emphasis on the importance of building sustainable transport systems at the global and regional levels, the need to consolidate efforts in preparation for the UN Decade on Sustainable Transport (2026-2035), the meeting participants agreed that the use of the potential of the Friends of Sustainable Transport Group will have a positive impact on the timely development of mutually acceptable multilateral approaches in the field of transport as a key factor in development and cooperation at all levels.
In addition, the participants of the event were familiarized in detail with the main directions and practical steps in the implementation of the Program for the development of Transport Diplomacy of the President of Turkmenistan for 2022-2025. Within the framework of the meeting, the inaugural session of the Advisory Board of the Friends of Sustainable Transport Group, formed in 2023, was held. The Chairman of the Council, Martin Marmi, announced promising areas for the future activities of the Council and shared plans to involve the business community in working with a Group of Friends and building effective public-private cooperation in this regard.
During the event, delegates stressed the need to further expand the Group's activities in order to regularly exchange views on ways to overcome challenges in the transport and logistics sector, ways to minimize regional and global barriers in this sector, and promote initiatives of UN member states in the field of transport development. As a result of the Ministerial Meeting of the Friends of Sustainable Transport Group, a Final Declaration was adopted, forming the legal basis for the Group's activities and defining the goals, format and methods of functioning of this association.
