Hasan Pezük, Chairman of the Board & Director General of TCDD, RAME Chair, invited the members of the 31st Regional Assembly for the Middle East (RAME) to Istanbul on 1 June 2023. The session was held in a hybrid format, with the majority of the participants attending in person. ARA (Afghanistan), ISR (Israel), JHR (Jordan), MoEI and Etihad Rail (United Arab Emirates), RAI (Iran), SAR and TGA (Saudi Arabia), TCDD, TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş and TCDD Teknik (Türkiye) were all present.

François Davenne, UIC Director General, welcomed the participants, with the Coordinator of the UIC Middle East Region, Marc Guigon, providing information regarding administrative issues. He also underlined the importance of COP28, which will take place from 28 November to 12 December 2023 in Dubai, stating that the railways have a vital role to play in combating climate change.

Hakan Günel, UIC Senior Freight Advisor, presented the results from the 3rd UIC Middle East Railway Tuesday (UMERT) on Infrastructure, held last April.

Cuneyt Turkkusu, Director of MERTCe, the UIC-TCDD Training-Centre, gave a presentation on MERTCe and information about planned training sessions in the Region.

Sandra Géhénot, UIC Freight Director and Philip Van den Bosch, UIC Deputy Freight Director, highlighted the issues presented in the Freight Group meeting, organised the day before.

Guigon then provided information on the UIC projects which are open to the UIC Middle East Regions’ members.

After a short report on the UIC RAME Office’s work given by Poupak Ashtari, ARA, JHR, RAI, SAR and TCDD presented the progress their railway undertakings have made since the 30th RAME in November 2022.

The 32nd RAME will take place on 23 November 2023.