At the general assembly of UITP, which has nearly 100 members in more than 2000 countries, in Barcelona, Metro Istanbul General Manager, one of the affiliates of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Özgür Soy was unanimously appointed as the Eurasian Region President and UITP Vice President. Soy became the first Turkish Executive to be appointed to this position in the 130-year history of the establishment.
Özgür Soy, the General Manager of Metro Istanbul, Turkey's largest urban rail system operator, will serve at the highest level at UITP, the largest public transportation company in the world. General Manager Soy was elected as the Vice President and Eurasia Regional President of UITP, which was founded in 1885 and consists of public transportation operators, central administrations, local governments, industrial organizations, research centers, academics and consultants from 100 different countries and has more than 1.900 members worldwide. .
Will represent 12 countries in the UITP Board of Directors
Özgür Soy will chair UITP's Eurasian Region, which includes Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. In this process, he will carry out the duties of UITP Board Member and UITP Vice President, representing the countries in the Eurasian Region. Özgür Soy will be responsible for the representation of all members from 12 countries in the Eurasia Region in the UITP Board of Directors, the coordination of the projects and activities to be carried out by UITP for these members, the execution of decision processes, and the follow-up of the UITP's secretariat in the Eurasia Region. He was elected with the votes of the members at the general assembly held in Barcelona in June 4.
Ozgur Soy, General Manager of Metro Istanbul, who attended the UITP Global Public Transport Summit held in Barcelona, said, “It is a source of pride for me and for our country that I was deemed worthy of this duty at the general assembly meeting. In recent years, the Istanbul Metro is experiencing its golden age with both new constructions and breakthroughs. The awards we received were the forerunner of this development. At the same time, I was appointed as the president of the newly established Eurasia Region in UITP. Here, too, we aim to increase cooperation and mutual knowledge sharing among 12 countries that are members of the Eurasian Region, such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Israel.”
The Transportation Academy, established in Istanbul, will be the training center of the sector.
Informing that Istanbul is also designated as the regional training center of UITP, General Manager Özgür Soy said, “With the cooperation agreement between UITP Academy and Metro Academy, which are 8 training centers in the world, the 9th training center was established in Istanbul. Here, too, many trainings will be given to participants from Turkey and different parts of the world on rail systems and public transportation. All these will make a great contribution to developing the public transportation sector and moving it to a better point.”
The voice of the public transport sector in Turkey will be heard more effectively
With the new role of Ozgur Soy, General Manager of Metro Istanbul, Istanbul will be represented more effectively on public transport projects and best practices around the world. In addition, it will pave the way for Turkey to have a greater say in public transportation projects and strategic decisions about the sector, and the international visibility of the Turkish public transportation sector, including the Turkish rail systems sector, will increase.
Public transport sector companies and stakeholders in Turkey, as well as other public transport operators, authorities and industry stakeholders in the region, will have the opportunity to establish closer relations, cooperate and share experiences with other countries on international platforms.