The 2010 FIATA (Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) World Congress was held from 4 to 8 October 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. The annual international event brings together the freight forwarding industry and transport players from across the world.

The congress programme and concurrent exhibition attracted more than 800 participants from 73 countries. The participants were welcomed at the opening ceremony by Mr Alongkorn Ponlaboot, Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Commerce, and FIATA Chairman Jean Claude Delen.

Mukul Saran Mathur, Head of UIC Asia Regional Office (New Delhi), was invited on behalf of UIC to give a presentation on the “Enhancement of Railway transportation in Asia” at the World Congress’ MultiModal Transport Meeting. The presentation detailed the region’s current growth situation and stressed the need in Asia to strengthen railway infrastructure, develop container handling facilities and government policies favouring containerisation, create institutional mechanisms to facilitate containerisation, and bring private investments to the rail sector.

The presentation was well received at the World Congress which further strengthened ties between UIC and FIATA for future cooperation.