TrackstotheFuture:GlobalNeighboursUnveilsItsThinkTrainfromEuropetoChina

Global Neighbours has released the official trailer for Tracks to the Future, its flagship international dialogue initiative, ahead of the programme’s inaugural journey from Europe to China in October and November 2026. Conceived by Ms. Jovanka Porsche, Founder and Chairwoman of Global Neighbours, the initiative will bring together a group of political leaders, business figures, entrepreneurs, scientists, scholars, experts, artists and thinkers for an extended journey across Europe and Asia, creating a distinctive setting for substantive exchange across regions, sectors and perspectives.

Tracks to the Future has been developed in response to an international environment marked by growing geopolitical fragmentation, strategic uncertainty and increasingly divergent perceptions of global change. The initiative is based on the premise that sustained international cooperation requires opportunities for direct and personal engagement between people whose political, economic, cultural and intellectual experiences may differ considerably. By creating an environment in which participants travel, exchange ideas and encounter different regional realities together, Global Neighbours seeks to foster deeper understanding and identify new possibilities for cooperation between Europe and Asia.

A Strategic Forum on Rails

At the centre of the initiative is an unconventional format for international dialogue: a journey aboard the chartered Golden Eagle Express, travelling from Europe through Türkiye and Central Asia to China along the historic Silk Road. Conceived as a strategic forum on rails, the train provides both the physical setting and a central metaphor for the project. Rather than flying between major cities and convening only in conventional conference venues, participants will travel through the countries and landscapes that connect Europe and Asia, allowing geography, culture and lived experience to become part of the conversation.

The Golden Eagle Express, which will carry Tracks to the Future participants on a journey from Europe through Türkiye and Central Asia to China.

In the official trailer, Ms. Porsche reflects on the significance of travelling by rail at a time when international engagement is often characterised by speed and distance. “On a train, everything becomes relative,” she observes. As landscapes, cultures and borders pass outside the window, participants are invited to consider how perspectives can change when the same world is viewed from different positions. Travelling overland also creates the time and space for conversations to develop beyond formal sessions, enabling participants to engage with one another over an extended period and to encounter the regions through which they travel rather than simply passing over them.

Ms. Jovanka Porsche, Founder and Chair of Global Neighbours, introduces the vision behind Tracks to the Future in the initiative’s official trailer.

The inaugural journey will commence on 17 October 2026 with an opening event at Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, Germany, before continuing through Europe, Türkiye and Central Asia and ultimately reaching China. The programme will conclude in Xi’an on 3 November 2026 with a strategy conference and gala. Along the route, participants will take part in conferences, thematic discussions, policy exchanges, business-to-business meetings, visits to innovative projects, cultural encounters and high-level receptions, while engaging with political, intellectual, business and cultural figures in the cities and regions through which the journey passes.

Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, Germany, where the inaugural Tracks to the Future journey will officially begin on 17 October 2026.

Bringing Different Perspectives to the Same Table

The programme has been deliberately designed to bring together perspectives that do not always meet within the same institutional setting. Participants from politics and diplomacy will engage with entrepreneurs and business leaders, while scientists and technology experts will exchange perspectives with scholars, artists and cultural figures. Through this interdisciplinary format, Tracks to the Future aims to move beyond conventional sectoral discussions and examine major global transformations through the interaction of political, economic, technological, social and cultural perspectives.

Discussions throughout the journey will address a range of issues shaping the future of societies and international cooperation, including artificial intelligence governance; AI and education and its implications for cognitive development; food security and the role of technology in agriculture; sustainable urban development and cities of the future; robotics and the future of work; digital infrastructure, connectivity and trade corridors; and demographic change. Rather than treating these themes as isolated policy or technological questions, the programme will consider their broader implications for economies, institutions and societies, as well as their potential to create new areas of cooperation across regions.

Tracks to the Future will travel overland across Europe and Asia, turning the journey itself into a space for encounter, reflection and dialogue.

The geographical dimension of the journey is integral to this approach. Europe, Türkiye, Central Asia and China represent regions with distinct historical experiences, development trajectories and perspectives on contemporary global transformation. Travelling across these regions is intended to provide participants with opportunities to engage directly with local contexts and to examine how shared challenges can be understood differently depending on political, economic, social and cultural circumstances. In doing so, Tracks to the Future seeks to create a setting in which differences are neither overlooked nor treated solely as obstacles, but instead become a starting point for substantive dialogue.

Tracks to the Future will bring together perspectives that do not always meet within the same institutional setting.

From Dialogue to Lasting Outcomes

The initiative is intended to translate exchange into longer-term intellectual and institutional outcomes. Perspectives, discussions and ideas developed during the journey will inform a forward-looking white paper, designed to capture key themes and potential areas for future cooperation. The inaugural journey will also be documented through a film, recording the people, places and conversations that shape the experience and extending the dialogue to a wider international audience.

ProfessorKlaus Schwab, Founder of the World Economic Forum, reflects in the Tracks to the Future trailer on the symbolic significance of the journey and the importance of connecting different regions, perspectives and people to create new opportunities for cooperation.

Tracks to the Future has been conceived not as a one-time event, but as a recurring international platform. Global Neighbours intends to develop future editions aboard privately chartered trains in different regions of the world, creating an evolving format for cross-regional dialogue and cooperation. By combining substantive discussion with shared travel and direct exposure to different societies, the initiative seeks to complement established diplomatic, business and policy forums with a format that allows relationships and ideas to develop over time and across geographical boundaries.

Choosing Connection in a Fragmented World

For Global Neighbours, the inaugural journey reflects a broader commitment to creating spaces in which dialogue can continue across political, regional and intellectual divides. As Ms. Porsche notes in introducing the project, a world experiencing growing fragmentation requires more opportunities to encounter different realities, listen to perspectives beyond one’s own and rediscover areas of connection. Tracks to the Future translates that principle into a journey across Europe and Asia, bringing together people, places and ideas in an effort to deepen understanding and explore practical possibilities for future cooperation.

With the inaugural journey approaching, the release of the official trailer marks the beginning of the public presentation of Tracks to the Future and the conversations that will accompany it from Duisburg to Xi’an. As the train prepares to depart this October, Global Neighbours invites audiences to follow the journey, engage with the perspectives emerging along the route and become part of a wider conversation about cooperation in an increasingly interconnected yet fragmented world.

Are you ready for the future? Welcome on board.