The IX Forum of Intermodal Transport (FRACHT) was held in Warsaw (Poland) from 18 till 19 August 2021 in an intramural format.

This is considered to be the largest and most important event in the field of transport, forwarding and logistics in Poland. Within the frame- work of the Forum, a number of events were held: plenary sessions, discussion round tables dedicated to the functioning and development of all modes of transport.

Taking into account the pandemic affecting, inter alia, the transport industry, the topics of discussion at FRACHT were devoted to the development of strategic actions to make the activities of the logistics industry players easier in an unstable world situation.

Interest in the FRACHT Forum has been growing with every passing year, as it was evidenced by the number and level of participants. This year, the Forum was attended by the representatives from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and other countries: HE Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Poland Nargiz Gurbanova, HE Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Poland Alim Kirabayev, Trade and Economic Counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the Republic of Poland Askar Beknazarov, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Bittel and others.

On the part of the OSJD Committee the Forum events were attended by Chairman of the OSJD Committee Mirosław Antonowicz and Specialist of the OSJD Commission on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock – representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the OSJD Committee Angelina Shurganova.

The Forum brought together the widest audience of participants in the intermodal transport market, highly-qualified experts, analysts and investors to discuss the achievements, changes, strategic plans in the development of transport corridors and topical issues in the field of sea, road and railway transport.

As part of the Forum’s business programme, Mirosław Antonowicz informed the participants about the OSJD activities, dwelling in detail on such issues as the organisation and implementation of freight traffic in the Eurasian space and on the Silk Road during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the Forum, the discussion round tables were held in the framework of four panels. During Panel II “New transport corridors, new initiatives, threats, opportunities; is it possible to remain indifferent to these processes?”, Chairman of the OSJD Commit- tee informed about the planned measures and the work done to develop international transport corridors passing through the territory of the OSJD member states, while Angelina Shurganova answered a number of questions from the Forum participants and drew attention to the development of transportation along the Trans-Caspian international transport route and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line. She stressed that despite the pandemic, the volume of freight traffic on the Azerbaijani Railways has not fallen down, but showed a positive dynamics of increase.

Thanks to the organisers of the event: the “Europe – North-East” International Association (ENEIA), the Poland-Asia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, working in cooperation with the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (PUIG), the participants of the Forum of Intermodal Transport (FRACHT) had the opportunity not to only to familiarise the participants with the plans and activities of their organisations and companies, but also to conduct active negotiations with experts and concerned parties from various transport and logistics enterprises, which contributed to the creation of a constructive dialogue for the exchange of experience and consideration of the functioning and development of the intermodal and multimodal transport branch.