LEIPZIG, Germany, May 22. Lithuania prioritizes garnering support for the reconstruction of Ukraine's heavily impacted transport infrastructure, Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania Marius Skuodis said during the annual summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF) titled "Greening Transport: Keeping focus in times of crisis" in Leipzig on May 22, Trend reports.
"Lithuania is directing efforts towards mobilizing assistance for the reconstruction of Ukraine's heavily affected transport infrastructure. Within the ITF framework, Lithuania and other countries have established a specialized platform, named 'The Common Interest Group for Transport in Ukraine (CIG4U)', aimed at addressing both the immediate and long-term needs of Ukraine's transportation sector. This initiative was established in December of the previous year," he stated.
The Minister underscored the significant challenges encountered by Ukraine's transport and logistics sector, which were also deliberated upon during the ITF's recent high-level thematic dialogue on Ukraine, hosted in Lithuania last month. Skuodis expressed optimism regarding the potential recurrence of such initiatives in the future.
"Transportation serves as the backbone of global connectivity. How can we collaborate to maintain existing routes and forge new ones, along with developing sustainable supply chains? Addressing these questions necessitates joint efforts on an international scale, encompassing Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa," stated the minister.
He stressed the importance of adopting a broader perspective, transcending individual interests.
"We must extend our care to countries and regions distant from our borders. While this requires effort, it yields positive outcomes. In politics, attention is the scarcest resource. Hence, we endeavor to demonstrate Lithuania's genuine concern for the needs and challenges of other countries and regions, including Latin America, Africa, and Asia," he concluded.
To note, the annual summit of the International Transport Forum is the largest gathering of transport ministers worldwide and serves as the premier event in global transport policy. This year's summit, chaired by Lithuania, with Chile and Azerbaijan serving as first and second vice presidents, respectively, is scheduled to take place from May 22 through 24 in Leipzig.
The 2024 summit aims to explore the role of the transport sector in promoting environmental sustainability and to assess the impacts of climate, health, and geopolitical crises in this context. Given that transportation contributes to 30 percent of global CO2 emissions and climate change is triggering extreme weather events, there is an urgent need to prioritize the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.