The first Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport was held at UN Headquarters on 16 April under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan.

It was attended by the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan to the United Nations Aksoltan Ataeva, Chairman of the “Türkmendeňizderýaýollary” Agency Batyr Annaev, heads of transport authorities, heads and representatives of diplomatic missions to the United Nations of the member countries of the Group, 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 Baghdad Amreyev, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Friends on Sustainable Transport, Honorary Chairman of the International Road Transport Union Martin Marmy, Executive Secretary of the International Centre for Transport Diplomacy (ICTD) Igor Runov, as well as invited Permanent Missions from among the co-sponsors of UN General Assembly resolutions on transport, representatives of research institutes and academia.

The speakers informed about the goals, objectives and activities of the Group of Friends on Sustainable Transport established on the initiative of Turkmenistan. Paying special attention to the importance of building sustainable transport systems at the global and regional levels and the need to consolidate efforts in preparation for the UN Decade on Sustainable Transport (2026-2035), the participants agreed that the use of the potential of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport would have a positive impact on the timely development of mutually acceptable multilateral approaches in the field of transport as a key factor of development and cooperation at all levels. In addition, the participants of the event were thoroughly acquainted with the main directions and practical steps in the implementation of the Programme for the Development of Transport Diplomacy of the President of Turkmenistan for 2022-2025.

The meeting included the inaugural session of the Advisory Board of the Group of Friends on Sustainable Transport, established in 2023. Council Chairman Martin Marmy outlined the Council's future activities and shared his plans for engaging the business community in joint work with the Group of Friends and building effective public-private co-operation in this regard.

At 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 to promote initiatives of UN member states in the field of transport development.

         The Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends on Sustainable Transport resulted in the adoption of the Final Declaration, which forms the legal basis for the Group's activities and defines the objectives, format and methods of functioning of this association.