Making the most of his participation in the UIC General Assembly on 27 June, HE Mr Mohammad Khaled Al Suwaiket, newly appointed President of Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO), paid his first visit to UIC Headquarters on 26 June. He was assisted by Eng. Abdullah S. Balhaddad, Vice President of Operations at SRO and Executive Responsible for International Affairs.
The SRO President was welcomed by UIC Director-General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux together with Paul Véron, UIC Director in charge of the Coordination of the Middle-Eastern Region.

The meeting was also attended by Mr Ismet Duman, Deputy Director-General of Turkish State Railways TCDD – representing Mr Süleyman Karaman, Director-General of TCDD and Chairman of the UIC Middle-East Region – together with Mr Ibrahim Cevik, Head of the International Affairs Department of TCDD and Mrs Rezzan Ünal from the same department.

Mr Loubinoux warmly welcomed Mr Al-Suwaiket in his own name and on behalf of the international community of UIC members. He invited Saudi Railways Organisation, which is a leading railway company with particularly ambitious and promising development plans in the Middle-East, to strengthen its participation and involvement in UIC cooperation activities and projects.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss how SRO could be more involved and play a more leading role in the framework of the UIC Middle-East (RAME) cooperation system, in accordance with the wish expressed by President Mohammed Khaled Al Suwaiket. SRO is ready to host an international seminar to be integrated into the UIC RAME Action Plan as well as the 13th Regional Assembly meeting for the Middle-East (RAME) following the 12th Meeting planned in November 2013 in Jordan (Dead Sea).