ITF Transport Management Board’s 38th session held
The 38th session of the Transport Management Board (TMB) of the International Transport Forum (ITF) was held on October 26–27 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The objective of the session, which was attended by high-ranking representatives of the ministries responsible for transport sector in 66 ITF member countries, was to discuss topical transport policy issues.
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport Bakhtiyar Mammadov and Chief Specialist of the International Cooperation Department of the Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency (AYNA) Elmar Sadig attended the meeting.
During the meeting, along with other issues on the agenda, ITF Secretary General Young Tae Kim informed about the work done on the priorities of the organization. TMB also discussed the work program and budget for 2024, and agreed on the program of the ITF summit.
Bakhtiyar Mammadov chaired the first meeting of the Summit 2025 Task Force to begin planning for the 2025 Summit to be held on October 26 under the theme “Enhancing Transport Resilience to Global Shocks”. The next day, Bakhtiyar Mammadov, chair of the 2025 Summit Task Force, reported on the first meeting of the working group at the 38th session of the International Transport Forum’s Transport Management Board.
The 2025 Summit, which will be chaired by Chile and under the Vice-Chairmanship of Azerbaijan, has launched an initiative to focus on a trilogy of sustainable, inclusive and zero-emission transportation systems in 2025–2027.
The ITF Secretariat presented a paper outlining the main theme of the 2025 Summit: adaptability to resilience transport systems, learning from mistakes and sustainable transformation. The Secretariat emphasized the importance of interoperability of transportation systems with other critical systems (i.e. energy, telecommunications, trade, etc.). Members of the working group provided comments in support of finalizing the draft program for the 2025 ITF Secretariat Summit.
ITF participants also had the opportunity to take part in an event organized by Lithuanian e-ticket provider Judu and ITF’s corporate partner, Estonian mobile company Bolt.
It should be noted that ITF is an intergovernmental organization within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) system and the only global body with a mandate for all modes of transport. It acts as a think tank on transport policy issues and organizes an annual ministerial meeting of transport ministers – the Global Summit. The TMB determines the overall strategy for the continuation of the ITF, discusses, develops and approves the ITF’s work program and budget.
On May 25, 2023, the summit of the International Transport Forum on “Transport Contributing to a Sustainable Economy” was held in Leipzig (Germany) with the participation of transport ministers of OECD member countries, high-level delegations and representatives of a number of international organizations. At the meeting of the Council of Transport Ministers held within the framework of the summit, Azerbaijan was elected for the first time as the Chairman of the ITF for 2025–2026 by a majority vote. The ITF is chaired by Lithuania for the years 2023–2024.
