OFFICIAL ADDRESSES

President of Russian Federation

Dear friends,

Your forum has again brought together representatives of Russian and foreign companies, government bodies and the expert community to discuss issues concerning the future development of the transport industry.

For Russia, transport is a most important sector of the economy, and today we need to deploy modern information technologies, create a modern infrastructure, develop intermodal transport and increase safety in transport.

All these issues are becoming especially significant in connection with the preparations for some highly important international events, such as the APEC summit in 2012, the Summer Universiade in 2013, the Winter Olympics in 2014 and the football World Cup in 2018.

I believe that "Transport Week 2011" will help to modernise the industry and strengthen international cooperation.

I wish you fruitful work and all the very best.

Dmitry Medvedev

Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation

Dear friends!

Over the past five years Transport Week has become firmly lodged in the business calendar of every transport enterprise manager in our country, CIS member states and across the world. With every passing year the event is becoming an ever more important forum for strengthening cooperation, discussing issues of nationwide significance and adopting significant decisions that determine major transport and industrial companies’ priorities.

This year’s Transport Week - 2011 at the Sokolniki EcoCentre from 21 to 25 November, will be attended by more than three thousand businessmen who will discuss current aspects of the functioning and development of transport in Russia and its further integration in the world transport system.

The highlights of Transport Week - 2011 will be the 5th Anniversary International Forum and Exhibition "Transport of Russia". The Forum’s business programme addresses topical issues in the transport sector and shows off the most significant projects in the sphere of aviation, automobile, railway, marine and river transport, construction of roads and infrastructure vividly demonstrate our progress toward innovation-driven development in the industry.

The forthcoming events are important for fulfilling the tasks set out in the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 and the plans for transport system development in the run up to significant international events in Russia: the APEC- 2012 summit in Vladivostok, the World Summer Student Games in 2013 in Kazan, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the 2018 World Cup and other events.

I hope that Transport Week - 2011 will see productive work, achievement goals and feature interesting and useful meetings from which decisions will emerge that improve people’s lives and make transport more accessible, safe and comfortable.

I invite all the transport workers to take an active part in the event. See you in November!

Igor Levitin

President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs

On behalf of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs I send greetings to the participants, guests and organisers of “Transport Week 2011”.

In a state as extensive as ours, transport plays a very special role – a role which is both economic and political and, as it were, psychological. In other words transport in our country is more than simply a sector of the economy.

In Russia it is transport which unites all branches of the economy into a single complex. It is transport which ensures not only the normal life of the state but also its national security and integrity. It is one of the industries that constitute the infrastructure of the national economy and that help to fulfil strategic objectives such as eliminating the economic backwardness of remote regions and enabling Russia to build its foreign trade relations and emerge into the global market.

Transport is also of exceptionally great importance for the integration processes within the CIS, which we can see today exemplified by the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which is probably the first real integrational association in the post-Soviet area and is where we came up against the need to unify the requirements for various types of transport routes and hubs and also to unify the transport support and logistics systems.

We all understand very well that the efficient and dynamic development of the partner countries’ transport industries is a guarantee of the long-term and sustainable growth of their national economies and the strengthening of their economic and political relations and friendship, which will have a favourable influence not only on the growth of the population’s wellbeing but also on the improvement of the investment climate in the countries of the Customs Union.

In order to achieve this goal we must pay the closest attention to the application of cutting-edge international experience and to the utilisation of modern technological solutions.

In the transport sphere there is a need to develop and introduce the most advanced technologies, including increasingly complex computer systems with the appropriate software and increasingly sophisticated navigational systems, especially those using the GLONASS national space navigation system.

What also makes this forum important is the need for radical modernisation of transport infrastructure facilities, roads and railways, water and air routes and freight handling logistics, and also the need to increase the level of safety and quality of the services offered.

The events taking place as part of “Transport Week 2011” will enable those taking part to exchange experience and to draw up a consolidated position aimed at seeking effective ways of addressing the issues that we face in terms of developing the transport industry.

With all my heart I wish the participants, guests and organisers of “Transport Week 2011” new business contacts and successful and fruitful work!

Alexander Shokhin