Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General, addressed the XLVI OSJD Ministers’ Conference held from 5 – 8 June 2018 in Bishkek. The conference was hosted by Kyrgyz Railway (KTJ) and attended by OSJD Transport Ministers & Vice-Ministers and international institutions, organisations and representatives: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (South Korea), the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) of the UNECE, EEC, DG MOVE, OTIF, CIT, UIC and JC Plaske.
The conference examined and approved the work results according to the agenda as follows:
1) Membership of the OSJD of the Republic of Korea:
The conference voted and decided to admit to membership the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea. The representative of the OSJD member from the Republic of Korea will start working at the OSJD Committee from 1 January 2019.
2) The conference took note and approved the report on the activities of OSJD for 2017. OSJD is going to introduce the one additional position of the simultaneous interpreter of Russian-English to the staff list of the OSJD Committee. OSJD Members (Georgia, Poland, Ukraine and Czech Republic) consider it necessary to give the English language the appropriate (working or/and official) status within the OSJD.
3) The conference approved results of the work of the OSJD Commissions on Transport Policy and Development Strategy and on Transport Law for the year 2017.
4) The conference adopted Amendments to the “Agreement on the Organisational and Operational Aspects of Combined Transport in Communication Europe Asia”.
5) The conference took note of the progress of the International Conference on the adoption of the text of the draft Convention on International Direct Railway Communications.
6) The conference listened to the information of the OSJD Committee Chairman on the progress of the UNECE Working Paper “Towards Unified Railway Law in the Pan-European Region and in the Euro-Asian Transport Corridors” and authorised OSJD Committee to cooperate further within the expert working group.
7) The conference approved the results of progress on the work of the Temporary Working Group on vocational training in railway transport. The glossary project is finished and is to be used for OSJD Leaflet R 305-1 “OSJD Glossary” to be updated accordingly. The list of topics for the 2018-2019 projects on vocational training/professional preparation was adopted including the website to be maintained by OSJD member JC Plaske.
8) The OSJD Work Programme for 2019 and subsequent years was adopted including joint activities with UIC.
9) The conference addressed issues of payment of membership fees, the budget of the OSJD Committee (final - for 2018, preliminary - for 2019), the distribution of vacancies/posts in the management of the OSJD Committee, chairmen and experts in OSJD working bodies, starting from 1 July 2018.
10) The conference renewed and appointed Mr Tadeusz Szozda to the OSJD Committee Chairman position from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2022.
11) The conference decided on the draft provisional agenda, venue and date of the next XLVII session of the OSJD Ministers Conference to be held from 4 – 7 June 2019 in Uzbekistan.
During the conference the Addendum of the IRS to the Cooperation Agreement on the development of UIC-OSJD Joint Leaflets has been was signed by the OSJD Committee Chairman.
Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux sent the message to the conference supporting OSJD’s efforts and recent initiatives which intend the practical steps to be undertaken and aimed at the implementation of the UIC-OSJD Addendum on IRS to be developed jointly. This agreement, already complemented by Addendum of the IRS, is going to impact, improve and bring new dimensions to the landscape of international standardisation activities. It will avoid the underestimation of UIC and OSJD leaflets as the technical documents de-facto providing the International Railway Standardised Technical Solutions for the Railway Operating Community. Being strategical partners with OSJD on the Eurasian continent, UIC is ready to share its experience and back the OSJD 5th Commission in preparation for practical steps to be undertaken by the UIC-OSJD JWG on IRS in months to come.
