Since the decisions of the 82nd UIC General Assembly on 27 June 2013, UIC has been working hard at reclassifying the association on the list of non-governmental organisations with which the United Nations works.

On behalf of the UIC Chairman, Mr Vladimir Yakunin, I am proud to confirm that, further to the recommendations of the 20th and 21st sessions of the Committee on NGOs of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), held on 28 May 2015, UIC’s consultative status has finally been upgraded from Roster, granted in 1950, to Special.

I remind you that this status, after such a long-term process (28 entities received positive recommendations while 37 others were deferred during those sessions), will entitle the railway community to influence the agenda at UN events, actively participate in the work of all its bodies and make regular and useful contributions, even though this is de facto already the case.

According to UN classification, the special status recognises UIC as having special competence and being specifically concerned with some of the fields of activity covered by the Council and its subsidiary bodies, as well as being known within the fields where UIC has this special consultative status.

This is another step to UIC globalisation that I wanted to share with you and that all our experts will benefit from.