From 15 till 19 April 2024, the Meeting XXXVIII of the Conference of General Directors (Authorised Representatives) of OSJD was held in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, with the participation of the delegations from:

Azerbaijani Railways CJSC, Byelorussian Railway, MAV Hungarian State Railways Private Company Limited by Shares, Vietnamese Railway State Company, Georgian Railway JSC, “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Company” JSC, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., Railways of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), “Kyrgyz Temir Zholu National Company” State Enterprise, Ulan-Bator Railway JSC, Polish State Railways JSC, Russian Railways OJSC, Railways of Slovak Republic, State Unitary Enterprise “Rohi Ohani Tojikiston”, Agency “Turkmendemiryollary” (Turkmenistan Railways) at the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Uzbek Railways JSC (O’zbekiston temir yo’llari), Czech Railways JSC, Estonian Railway JSC.

The CGD meeting was also attended by the representatives of the OSJD affiliated enterprises: Beijing Jiaotong University (People’s Republic of China), SIGIS Ltd. (Republic of Latvia), “Far Eastern Shipping Company” PJSC (FESCO) (Russian Federation), Eurosib SPb-TS JSC (Russian Federation), “Post of Russia” JSC (Russian Federation), Gepard Express SE (Czech Republic), “United transport and logistic company – Eurasian railway Alliance” JSC (“UTLC ERA” JSC).

Opening the meeting on 15 April, Mammetkhan Chakyev, Director General of the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers, noted that this year was marked by the 30^th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s accession to OSJD, as well as the 300^th anniversary of the great Turkmen poet Makhtumkuli Fraghi. He read out the welcome address of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov to the participants of the XXXVIII meeting, in which, in particular, it was noted that Turkmenistan took an active position in the development of transport and transit corridors, including the issues of cooperation in the UN, OSJD and other major international organisations.

Within the framework of the agenda the participants of the CGD meeting discussed and approved the results of work for 2023 of the OSJD Commission on Freight Traffic, on Passenger Traffic, on Infrastructure and Rolling Stock, OSJD Permanent Working Groups on Coding and Information Technology, on Finance and Accounting. The following issues were also considered:

- the course of mutual accounting and the mechanism of repayment of debts between railways;

- working results of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the issues of vocational training/education in the field of railway traffic;

- Report on Activities of OSJD for 2023;

- the expediency of preparing a draft OSJD Development Strategy;

- on the OSJD Work Programme for 2025 and subsequent years;

- OSJD Committee Budget;

- the OSJD Committee residence, where it was proposed to keep the place of residence in the city of Warsaw;

- granting the status of an OSJD affiliated enterprise;

- provisional agenda, date and venue of CGD meeting XXXIX.

The Conference noted the successful implementation of the OSJD Work Programme and Plan for 2023 and approved the “Report on the Activities of OSJD for 2023”, approved the “OSJD Work Programme for 2025 and subsequent years” in the field of freight and passenger traffic, infrastructure and rolling stock, coding and information technology, as well as finance and accounting.

In the field of activities of the OSJD Commission on Freight Traffic it was decided to approve and put into effect from 1 June 2024 the amendments and additions to the Harmonised Nomenclature of Goods (GNG) and to approve and put into effect from 15 May 2024 the amendments to OSJD Leaflet O 405 “Regulations on the creation and follow-up of the List of Freight Stations of the OSJD Railways”. It was also decided to continue work on all the subjects developed within the framework of the Commission.

As part of the review of the work of the PWG CI , the next editions of the obligatory-recommendatory leaflets O 920-14, O+R 943 and O+R 944 were approved, with their previous editions cancelled accordingly.

The Conference took a decision to grant the status of an affiliated enterprise in OSJD to the following companies:

- East Express LLC (Moscow, Russian Federation);

- Shenzhen Dayang Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, China);

- “Association of Kazakhstan Freight Rail Carriers” Self-Regulatory Organisation (Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan);

- “New Land Grain Corridor” (Moscow, Russian Federation).

The Conference confirmed the date of the meeting XXXIX of the Conference from 7 till 11 April 2025.

During the closing ceremony of the CGD meeting XXXVIII, an address of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov was read out on the occasion of the conclusion of the CGD meeting XXXVIII, in which the great importance of the results of this event for the development of international transportations in the region and in the whole Eurasian space in the directions North-South and East-West was noted.

The participants of the meeting expressed great gratitude to the Turkmen side for the excellent organisation and holding of the Conference at the highest level, which was reflected in the “Ashgabat Declaration”.