The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) convened the 18th session of the Committee on Transport and Logistics on 20 and 21 December 2017 in Beirut, Lebanon.
 
The meeting reviewed the progress in ESCWA’s transport related activities since the 17th session of the committee, the level of implementation of the recommendations of the 17th session, as well as an ESCWA project on the Formulation of a Mutually Agreed Upon Vision for the Development of a Strategic Multimodal Transport System in the Arab region.

The meeting also reviewed several papers related to: Megatrends in the transport and logistics sector and its impact on the future of the transport sector in the Arab region; The role of transport in connectivity to GVCs; The Logistics Performance Index methodology; Implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement by Arab countries; Safety of traffic in Arab countries and the challenges of implementing the United Nations Traffic Safety Decade 2011-2020.
 
The programme also included a panel discussion on progress made by Arab countries in the transport sector.