Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday called upon member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to collaborate in research and development for finding effective solutions to contemporary challenges in the road transport sector in the region.

He was chairing the tenth meeting of the SCO transport ministers in New Delhi. The SCO comprises India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In today’s meeting, all the member states supported the “Concept of cooperation of the SCO member states to decarbonise transport, promote digital transformation and innovative technologies to achieve greater efficiency and sustainability”.

A Special Working Group has been established to promote collaboration among member states of the SCO in the field of transportation. This group will facilitate meetings to share knowledge and best practices related to reducing carbon emissions in transportation, promoting digital transformation, and implementing innovative technologies for more sustainable and efficient transport.

Gadkari pointed out that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India recently celebrated the 75th year of independence under the theme of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and entered the Amrit Kaal which translates into “Golden Era”. Under the Amrit Kaal, “Green Growth” was identified as a key area for reducing the carbon intensity of the economy, including the promotion of green mobility.

He was of the view that to bring a paradigm shift by adopting green and clean fuels, developing technologies that improve the efficiency and reliability of the transport systems and bringing sustainability in the development of the road construction sector, the SCO countries must collaborate for research and development and to bring innovations in the road transport to develop effective solutions to contemporary challenges in this sector.

”We feel that an approach which is based on collaboration and cooperation between the SCO member countries will enable to promote sustainable transport development, lower carbon emissions to enhance the quality of life and improve the efficiency of transport systems within the SCO regions,” the Indian minister said. This, he said, was also reflected in India’s commitment to achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2070 under a five-fold strategy called “Panchamrita” which was announced by Prime Minister Modi at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.

Gadkari said the SCO transport ministers could send a collective message affirming their determination to address the challenges of the transport sector and bring solutions that shall help the member nations to build an ecosystem for collaboration and cooperation.