Sustainable freight transport entails, in particular, sustainable transport policies, planning strategies, and investment decisions that effectively balance the economic, environmental and social objectives. This is particularly crucial for developing countries, including in East Africa as they have the opportunity – given their developmental stage and current focus on infrastructure development process – to consider integrating at early stages of infrastructure investment and planning, relevant sustainability principles and criteria.

Under the 9^th Tranche of the UN Development Account Project with UNECLAC and UNECA, UNCTAD delivered a capacity-building and training workshop on “Sustainable Freight Transport and Finance” on 14-18 March 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. The aim of the workshop was to raise awareness and share experiences and best practices among relevant public and private sector stakeholders on the various aspects of sustainable freight transport and finance. The aim was also to build the capacity of relevant stakeholders, including in particular, policy makers, transport corridor managers and operators, financial institutions and investment agencies to identify relevant policy priority areas as well as action required to promote and implement sustainable freight transport systems.

The training benefited close to 85 participants from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. These countries are members of East Africa’s Northern and Central Transit and Transport Corridors. UNEP, UNECA, COMESA and EAC have also taken part in this initiative.