SESRIC participated in the 23^rd Meeting of the COMCEC Transport and Communications Working Group, held under the theme of “Developing Intelligent Transportation Systems in OIC Member Countries” on 24-25 September 2024, in Ankara, Türkiye.

The meeting brought together representatives from the Ministries of Transport and Communications and other national institutions/authorities from the OIC Countries as well as academia, international organisations and the private sector, such as Istanbul University, Pamukkale University, International Road Transportation Union (IRU), and UTRLab User Research.

The session commenced with a comprehensive presentation on the outlook of transport and communications in the OIC Member Countries, followed by a series of discussions and presentations regarding the draft research report concerning transport and communication infrastructures. The presentations also covered the main findings of the selected case country analysis and lessons learned. Representatives from Maldives, Pakistan and Türkiye then shared their diverse experiences on the development and implementation of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) from national and international institutions’ perspectives.

During the meeting, SESRIC briefed the participants on its upcoming activities in the sectors of transport and communication, highlighting its continued efforts to support and supplement national capacities of the OIC Countries in the respective sectors.

The two-day meeting sessions concluded with a policy debate among the participating delegates, focusing on the formulation of policy recommendations for the 40th COMCEC Ministerial Session. The meeting was followed by a field visit to the ITS Smart Centre of the General Directorate of Road and Highways of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye.

The Working Group (WG) mechanism serves as one of the main instruments of the COMCEC Strategy towards the realization of its objectives. The Strategy ensures active and direct involvement of the Member Country experts in the COMCEC cooperation areas, through regular WG meetings in each cooperation area. The WGs aims to produce and disseminate knowledge, and share experience and good practices. They also provide a suitable platform for creating a common understanding and approximating policies among the Member Countries to overcome their common development problems.

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