On April 16, 2024, the first Ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport was held at the UN headquarters under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan.
The meeting was attended by the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the UN Aksoltan Atayeva, Chairman of the “Türkmendeňizderýaýollary” agency Batyr Annaev, heads of transport departments, heads and representatives of diplomatic missions to the UN of the Group 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 Maruxa Cardama, President of the Turkic Investment Fund Baghdad Amreyev, Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, Honorary Chairman of the International Road Transport Union Martin Marmy, Executive Secretary of the International Center for Transport Diplomacy (ICTD) Igor Runov, as well as invited Permanent Missions from among the co-authors of UN General Assembly resolutions on transport issues, representatives of research institutes and academic circles.
The speakers informed about the goals, objectives and activities of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, created at 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 using the potential of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport will have a positive impact on timely developing mutually acceptable multilateral approaches in the field of transport as a key factor in development and cooperation at all levels. In addition, the event participants were familiarized in detail with the main directions and practical steps in the implementation of the Transport Diplomacy Development Program of the President of Turkmenistan for 2022-2025.
As part of the meeting, the inaugural session of the Advisory Council of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, formed in 2023, took place. Chairman of the Council Martin Marmy voiced promising areas of future activity of the Council and shared plans to involve the business community in joint work with the Group of Friends and building effective public-private interaction in this regard.
During the event, delegates emphasized the need to further expand the activities of the Group 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 the initiatives of UN member states in the field of transport development.
As a result of the Ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, a Final Declaration was adopted, which forms the legal basis for the activities of the Group and defines the goals, format and methods of functioning of this association.