Vincent Vu, Director of Institutional Relations at UIC, met with the Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communications named after M. Tynyshpaev on 15 September to discuss updating and reactivating a cooperation agreement between the two bodies signed in 2013.

The Academy was represented by Beisova Azhar, Executive President-Rector, Abdulaev Seidulla, Vice-Rector for Scientific Work and Cooperation, Andrey Ivanov, Vice-Rector for Educational and Methodological Work, and Ms Beysakhmetova, Chief Specialist in the Department of Professional Development and Cooperation.

The meeting was supported by JSC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. The university - an important one for the transport sector in Kazakhstan - has recently undergone a major reorganisation, and it seemed an opportune time to reconnect with the new management team and present UIC’s current activities, with a particular focus on activities relevant to the academic community in the Asia-Pacific region.

Marc Guigon, Director of the Passenger Department at UIC, presented a number of new areas to complement the 2013 agreement, one of which was collaboration within the framework of the UIC Alliance of Universities. Irina Petrunina, UIC’s representative for the CIS countries, also proposed that KazATK participate in the dissemination of studies by the UIC Asia-Pacific region and explore new areas for cooperation, such as helping to evaluate new technologies for freight corridors (electronic seals, intelligent containers, etc.), logistics in the digital age, as well as regional studies on topics such as corridors, multimodality, and paperless documentation.

The meeting participants agreed to meet again soon to formalise their renewed partnership.