The Third International Transport Conference 2025, organised jointly by the Society of Transportation Engineers Nepal (SOTEN), the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MOPIT); and the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD) was held in Nepal from 11–13 April 2025. The event brought together transport experts, policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders to discuss safe, sustainable, resilient, and innovative transport solutions for Nepal and beyond. The event featured 23 International and 52 national speakers, spread across 15 technical sessions, with over 320 participants from 13 countries.

The event was supported by international collaboration with Eastern Asian Society of Transport Studies, Asian Transport Observatory, the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) and the International Road Federation (IRF). Other major governmental stakeholder covering federal, provincial and local government were part of the collaboration. Department of Roads, Department of Local Infrastructure Development, Construction Business Development Implementation Committee, Department of railway, Road Board Nepal, Investment Board Nepal, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Municipality Association of Nepal, National Association of Rural Municipality of Nepal, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Metropolitan City and Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal were the collaborating partners along with support from other professional societies and sponsors.

The inaugural session featured high dignitaries. Susanna Zammataro, Director General of the International Road Federation (IRF); and Professor Fujiwara, President of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS) provided opening remarks followed by keynote remarks from Keshab K. Sharma, Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT); Professor Kaito from Osaka University; and Bindu Lohani, Chair of Clean Air Asia and former vice president, Asian Development Bank. The event was further enlightened by the presence and remarks of Hon’rable Devendra Dahal, Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.

The program provided special presentation from international speakers from 12 countries representing diverse sector ranging from intermodal transportation, safe transportation system, sustainable mobility, transport connectivity, slope stabilisation, asset management, public transportation, traffic engineering, civil aviation, technology, resilient transport infrastructure and many other. The event welcomed various researchers and professional working in Nepal presenting their research, innovation, and works. With Nepal adopting federal structure, it is utmost necessary to discuss the challenges from both a provincial and local perspective, hence the conference brought experts to present them. The final technical session featured a major local government stakeholder in the transport sector to discuss about their future plans for development.

The closing session brought high delegate representation. Greg Smith, International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) and Alvin Mejia, Asian Transport Observatory gave closing remarks highlighting the importance of the conference. Similarly, Er. Sushil Gyawali, CEO of Investment Board Nepal highlighted importance of bigger transport projects to achieve the SDGs and for economic boost. Similarly, Honorable Minister Aman Maskey emphasised the role of the transport sector in provincial development and the commitment to implementing the lessons learned during this conference. Finally, Honorable Prof. Dr. Shiva Raj Adhikari, Vice Chairman of National Planning Commission presented the integration and optimisation requisite for the improvement of the transport sector and called for implementation of the conference resolution “Towards Safe, Sustainable, Efficient and Resilient Mobility”. The conference concluded with an 11-point resolution which will be fundamental for future discussions and advocacy efforts.

During the conference, the Society of Transport Engineers Nepal (SOTEN) renewed its collaboration with Asian Transport Observatory (ATO), with a MoU committing for research, capacity building and knowledge sharing in transport sector.

The conference concluded in the leadership of Er. Hare Ram Shrestha, PHD. Chair of the Organising Committee and Er. Hemant Tiwari, Conference Convener.