On November 26, in the capital, the Global Sustainable Transport Conference started its work in the Conference-hall of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the country. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov took part in the solemn ceremony of opening and plenary session of the high-level forum. As is known, the Conference, the agenda of which includes a wide spectrum of issues concerning cooperation in such a strategic direction as transport, is held under the aegis of the United Nations Organization. In this connection, Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the forum. To participate in the Global conference, the heads of states, heads of governments and parliaments of several countries, official delegations from tens of states of the world arrived in the Turkmen capital. The Ashgabat forum brought together the heads and representatives of the important international organizations and institutions - the United Nations Organization and its leading Commissions and specialized establishments, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of Economic Cooperation (ОEС), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Bureau of the European Commissioner for Transport of the European Commission, the International Road Transport Union (IRU), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Union of Railways (UIC), the International Road Federation (IRF), the International Automobile Federation (FIA), International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Intergovernmental Commission for the Europe-Caucasus-Asia Transport Corridor (TRASECA), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Energy agency (IEA), the International Union of Telecommunication (ITU), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Eurasian Patent Organization, and others. Participation of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in the forum adds particular significance to the event. From the Turkmen side, the Conference is attended by members of the government, heads and representatives of several ministries and sectoral departments, other structures concerned. Heads of diplomatic agencies and missions accredited to Turkmenistan were also invited to the opening ceremony of the Conference. To provide an extensive coverage of the Global Conference, numerous representatives of the foreign mass media community - large news agencies, TV channels, printing editions - came to Ashgabat. It testifies to the huge interest of the international community in that landmark event. In the morning, prior to the beginning of the forum, its participants laid flowers to the Monument of Independence of Turkmenistan in the southern part of the capital. Then all the ceremony attendees proceeded to the building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry where the day before a grand ceremony was held of raising the National Flag of Turkmenistan and the Flag of the United Nations Organization. There, in the foyer, the honored guests and heads of official delegations, including - the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the President of Georgia, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Second President of the National Council of the Republic of Austrian, the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, and also the members of governments, heads of core ministries of many countries, large international organizations, - warmly welcomed the President of Turkmenistan. After an official ceremony of posing for photographs, a grand ceremony of opening and the plenary session of the Conference took place in the Conference-hall. In his welcoming speech, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov expressed his sincere gratitude to the guests of our country for accepting the invitation to participate in the first Global Sustainable Transport Conference. Having underlined that Turkmenistan’s international activity is based on the principles of cooperation, trust and mutual respect, the leader of nation declared that our country is open for any constructive approaches and proposals and is always ready for negotiations with other states and international organizations on the concrete directions of mutual interest. Addressing again the words «Welcome to the capital of Turkmenistan!» to the people assembled, the head of state wished success to the forum. Within two days the forum participants will discuss many important issues. Then the President of Turkmenistan continued the plenary session of the conference in Russian - one of the approved official languages of the United Nations. He gave the floor to the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization. Welcoming the participants of the forum, Mr. Ban Ki-moon pointed out that the present meeting is held at the dynamical time for the world community of nations. Focusing the attention on the priority problems the international community faces, Mr. Ban Ki-moon underlined the role of the sustainable transport in their solution. Addressing the Turkmen leader and all the forum attendees, Mr. Ban Ki-moon noted that the Ashgabat forum is not only the conference on sustainable transport.We gathered here for the sake of well-being of the people, including our children and grandchildren, the Secretary General of the United Nations said. Then the floor was again given to the President of Turkmenistan. Addressing the Secretary General of the United Nations and all participants of the forum, the leader of nation Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov underlined that organization of the present Global Sustainable Transport Conference is, undoubtedly, a landmark event. Today, the transport sphere may confidently be included into the category of key, crucial trends of the future-oriented world development; it becomes a major factor of the global geo-economy designed to attach a new sense and a powerful creative impulse to it. In the country, construction of highways, road junctions, bridges is picking up speed. Quite recently, the International Airport of Ashgabat was launched, designed to cardinally increase the transit potential of Turkmenistan, the leader of nation continued his speech. Construction of the international seaport in the city of Turkmenbashi is also carried out at high paces. It will be a powerful logistical centre on the crossroad of Asia and Europe, designed to co-ordinate the cargo traffic with the use of sea, automobile, railway and air transport systems. Early next year, the head of state said, the largest automobile and railway bridges via the Amudarya River in the region will be commissioned to connect the transport highways of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It will also considerably accelerate and increase the traffic flows in both directions. Therefore, together with the partners, Turkmenistan carries out in the region a number of large international projects. The recently launched trunk-railway Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran is capable to transport up to 10-12 million tons of cargoes a year. Pending the subject, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov noted that in the long run, the railway will create a possibility to be linked to the transport infrastructure in the eastern and southern directions. It will become a part of the Asian international transport corridor which, running through the territories of the project country-participants, and also via Kyrgyzstan, will join the ramified railway system of China and through it – the markets of the Asian-Pacific region. In this context, the leader of nation also marked that the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman international transport-transit corridor project (the agreement was signed in Ashgabat) opens real prospects for a direct access to the Near East. Our general task, the leader of nation underlined is to dovetail the objective economic interests, the realities of international partnership with the need of preserving the ecological balance. Concluding his speech, the Turkmen leader once again warmly welcomed the participants of the Global conference and wished them all interesting and fruitful work. Now, the floor is given to Secretary General of the United Nations Organization Ban Ki-moon. Speaking of the significant role of transport, Mr. Ban Ki-moon noted that the world commerce depends on the international means of communication. It is a source of new jobs, economic growth; and on the whole, the transport sphere also influences the development of man in general. Sustainable transport should cover all who needs it, the Secretary General of the United Nations underlined, having noted that apart from overcoming physical distances, it is necessary that members of the human family became closer to each other. The Conference, the honored guest continued, faces a lot of problems connected with sustainable transport, including ecological ones. In particular, it concerns the reduction of carbon dioxide discharges into the atmosphere and restraint of the global temperature rises. In that context, the Secretary General of the United Nations voiced a number of ideas, concerning the general vision of the transport sphere development program in the complex frameworks dovetailed with the Sustainable Development Goals and considering interconnectivity of different types of transport, and also solution of social, ecological and other actual problems on this direction. Two years ago, Mr. Ban Ki-moon continued, a consulting Taskforce of high level was created which brought together the private sector, industrial branches, local and central governments. They represented all the types of transport in the cargo and passenger transport sectors. Last month, the Taskforce presented a final report with recommendations on the sustainable transport. As the honored guest noted further, the Conference is the last international forum convened by him in the capacity of the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization, and he would like to finish his work at that post having concentrated the attention on the sustainable transport, which is an important factor of improving the life conditions in the world, encouraging progress for the future generations. In conclusion, the Secretary General appealed to integrate the efforts for making our world ecologically sustainable, more healthy, harmonious and prospering. Then the floor was given again to the President of Turkmenistan. Addressing the participants of the forum, the head of state noted that the present Conference has also great practical and applied value. Its agenda includes presentations of transport potentials of various states and companies; new projects will be presented; and a number of documents of political and legal character will be signed. In this sense, cooperation in the transport sphere is a live, creative process, which opens new prospects and encourages accumulation of the experience of mutual dialogue between representatives of different countries. Summing up the aforesaid, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov expressed conviction that wide and professional discussion of the role of sustainable transport in the context of modern regional and global developments would promote better understanding of the general objective interests, rapprochement of positions, development of innovative schemes and models of partnership-based interaction. Then the President of Turkmenistan and the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization left the Conference-hall of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and proceeded to a new office building of the United Nations Mission in our country to participate in the ceremonious opening of the UN Office Building. In the afternoon, the head of state Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov held a number of bilateral meetings, including the ones with President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the Second President of the National Council of the Republic of Austria Karlheinz Kopf, the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Michael Myasnikovich, Secretary General of SCO Rashid Alimov. That same day, the President of Turkmenistan held a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. *** Within the frames of the Global Sustainable Transport Conference, the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization Ban Ki-moon gave a briefing to answer the questions of journalists. *** During the Conference, a video film in the 3D-format was demonstrated, introducing the forum participants to Turkmenistan’s policy in the field of transport and giving the idea about the significance and scopes of the national and regional projects on the development of multimodal system of communications realized by our country. As a follow up to the plenary session, the participants of the Conference delivered the speeches which were focused on the issues of the forum agenda related to the urgent aspects of advancing constructive partnership-based cooperation in the strategic transport sphere. In his speech, having expressed gratitude for the hospitality, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani addressed to Turkmenistan his sincere congratulations in connection with continuation of the work on the Ashgabat Declaration accepted by results of the International Conference on the issues of transport corridors, which took place in the Turkmen capital two years ago. In this connection, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani placed special accent on the forthcoming opening of the first stage of the Asian International Transport Corridor and railway communication in terms of further development of Afghanistan and Central Asia. In his speech at the plenary session, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif pointed out that participation of the Pakistani side in the forum is an evidence of the importance which Pakistan attaches to the regional and global integration processes, to the implementation of infrastructure projects in the transit -transport sector. Stressing the role of the transport-communication networks and integration as an integral factor of the upward advancement, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan supported further integration of efforts to encourage intensification of the fruitful partnership, strengthening of peace, safety and well-being of states and peoples. In his speech, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Michael Myasnikovich noted that the new model of world development is defined by the international community on the basis of three components which complement each other. The first of them is a man as a personality and generator of new ideas, the second - competitive economy, and the third - quality of the environment. It was noted that broad participation in the forum of representatives of different countries and important international organizations affords ground to believe that the Ashgabat Conference will result in adoption of important decisions which will define further development of transport for the sake of economy of state-participants of the forum. The Joint Acting President as Second President of the National Council of the Republic of Austria Karlheinz Kopf in his speech noted that sustainable transport is a safe and economically-grounded access to the well-being. Pending the subject, Mr. Karlheinz Kopf has touched upon the experience of Austria in solution of the issues related to the transport sphere. Having underlined the value of sustainable transport for the present and future generations, Mr. Karlheinz Kopf welcomed the Ashgabat conference which, he believes, will promote further strengthening of the interest-based international cooperation for the sake of general prosperity. In their speeches, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Rustam Azimov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Kirghiz Republic Muhammetkalyj Abulgaziev and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Azim Ibrohim stressed particular importance for the states of Central Asia of the issue of sustainable transport. Acknowledging high actuality of Turkmenistan’s initiatives in the transport sphere, the speakers confirmed their countries’ readiness for furthering interaction in this direction, having expressed confidence that the results of the forum will invest in the intensification of fruitful partnership on advancing the important infrastructural projects. Strategic significance of the Ashgabat forum in the context of modern realities and prospects of global development was noted in the speeches of the Secretary General of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Ms. Fan Lyu and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank’s Taskforce on the issues of the Development Agenda for the period up to 2030 Mr. Mahmud Mohieldin. At the plenary session, the high ranking representatives of Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and other countries in their speeches stressed the importance of the issues included in the agenda of the Conference and high interest of the parties in the enhancement of effective cooperation in creating the global sustainable transport systems. In honor of the international forum participants, on behalf of the President of Turkmenistan, an official dinner was given, in the course of which the head of state and the Secretary General of the United Nations exchanged speeches. Then the Conference continued its work in the format of thematic sectoral sessions - «Sustainable transport in the focus of attention of the Sustainable Development Goals”, «Problems and possibilities for the development of rural transport: giving priority access to the remotest areas», «Problems of climate change and their solution through the development of sustainable transport», «Urban infrastructure for cargo and passenger traffic». Within the frames of the forum, the following documents were signed: the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile on developing the mechanism of consultations in the directions representing mutual interest; the Protocol on letters exchange on the Convention ratification between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Republic of Korea on elimination of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion concerning income taxes; the Protocol on introducing amendments in the Agreement between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Republic Korea on air communication between their corresponding territories and beyond; the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of transport between the Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the intentions to further develop cooperation in the field of transport; the Protocol of the meeting between the delegations of aviation departments of Turkmenistan and the Kirghiz Republic; the Contracts between the Public Service Academy at the President of Turkmenistan and the Population Fund of the United Nations for fulfillment of the Action Plans for 2016-2020 financed by the Fund and approved within the frames of cooperation on realizing the Country Program for Turkmenistan; the Action Plan for 2016 between the Public Service Academy at the President of Turkmenistan and the Population Fund of the United Nations; the Action Plan for 2017 between the Public Service Academy at the President of Turkmenistan and the Population Fund of the United Nations.