 On 12 December 2012 in Paris, the International Union of Railways General Assembly appointed Yakunin Chairman of the Union.He was unanimously reappointed on 3 December 2014 and continued to serve as head until his retirement.Yakunin is also President of the World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations", an International NGO registered in Vienna, Austria, which he co-founded with C. Kapur of India and N. Papanikolao from Greece/USA.