Your Excellency Mammetkhan Chakyyev, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan,
Excellencies,
Colleagues,
I am honoured and excited to join you today to discuss the important issue of sustainable transport.
The momentum on this issue has been building rapidly here in New York. This Group of Friends has been a driving force behind that push.
Just last year, you spearheaded two milestone resolutions on sustainable transport. Thanks to these efforts, the General Assembly has now declared November 26 as World Sustainable Transport Day, and 2026 will mark the beginning of the first United Nations Decade on Sustainable Transport. The Secretary-General has also been invited to convene a third United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference, an initiative that the Department of Economic and Social Affairs stands ready to support.
Taken together these milestones will provide much needed attention to a sector with some of the most cross-cutting impacts on social and economic development, environmental health and long-term sustainability.
In this regard, tomorrow’s High-level Meeting on Sustainable Transport, convened by the President of the General Assembly will be an important launching pad. It will help to raise the profile of transport in international cooperation and showcase the ways in which transport can support SDG implementation at large.
We hope that the participants will reflect fully on transport’s many linkages with SDG progress.
Excellencies,
As we look towards the UN Decade and the proposed third conference, the UN-system has already begun its work.
UN DESA worked with the UN Economic Commission for Europe to convene a first ever UN Expert Group Meeting on Sustainable Transport in Geneva last November.
The meeting highlighted the need for technical cooperation, knowledge sharing and capacity-building on transport, to accelerate scientific and technological changes. It also initiated joint work to prepare for and deliver on the upcoming UN Decade.
My Department has begun its work with the UN Regional Commissions to craft an implementation plan for the Decade. Several Member States, IGO partners such as the OECD, the World Bank, and WHO, and civil society actors have indicated their interest in contributing to this planning. The breadth of interest promises a Decade focused on holistic and truly integrated action that seeks to maximize the contribution of sustainable transport to our overall sustainability goals.
We will need all transport sectors - maritime, inland and aviation - actively contributing to both the plan and implementation of the Decade’s activities.
This Group and tomorrow’s High-level Meeting will provide insight into the types of actions and activities that Members States would like to see in the implementation plan.
Excellencies,
In closing, please be assured that DESA will be paying close attention over these two days, as Member States deliberate on their sustainable transport priorities and needs.
Moving forward, we will continue to foster close cooperation across the UN system to build more sustainable systems of transport across the world.
Thank you.