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During the main plenary discussion of “Transport of Russia”, issues of Eurasian integration were discussed
On November 20, the second day of the 13th International Forum and Exhibition “Transport of Russia”, the main plenary discussion “Transport Is the Basis of Eurasian Integration” was held with the participation of transport ministers of the EAEU member states and representatives of international organizations. Within the framework of the business format, senior executives of Russia and their foreign counterparts discussed various points of view on the development of the EAEU transport industry.
At the beginning of the discussion, Sergei Ivanov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport, read out the welcoming address of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Forum and Exhibition participants. Then the Special Representative listed the achievements of the transport industry over the past year, including the opening of new airports in Simferopol, Rostov, Saratov; the completion of the construction of the railway part of the Crimean Bridge, etc. “In just a few days a landmark project, in the launching of which I took an active part, will be completed – it is the construction of the new Moscow – St. Petersburg highway. Before the end of the year it will definitely be completed, and people will be able to travel very conveniently between the two capitals,” said Ivanov. The Special Representative noted the high level of organization of the Exhibition and expressed his admiration for what he had seen at the stands of JSC Russian Railways and State Company Avtodor. Sergey Ivanov spoke about such innovative projects as an unmanned locomotive, a robotic multi-purpose platform (a solar-powered boat), and an electric passenger ship.
Maxim Akimov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, Tigran Sarkisyan, Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Oleg Belozerov, Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the Board of JSC Russian Railways, Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, Young Tae Kim, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum, Byambasuren Enkh-Amgalan, Minister of Road and Transport Development, Olga Golodets, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Yevgeny Dietrich, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, participated on the plenary discussion.
Maxim Akimov spoke on the issue of the ecosystem of digital transport corridors of the EAEU. He noted the rapid growth of the transport industry of the Russian Federation and pointed out two ways of developing ecosystems: “We will either confidently become part of other digital ecosystems, or we will implement – which is certainly the right thing to do – our own ecosystem, which is closely integrated with our partners while being logical, advanced, technological.” As examples of such systems Akimov mentioned Chinese LOGINK and European TEN-T.
The topic of transport corridors was continued by Tigran Sarkisyan. He pointed out three global challenges facing the transport ecosystem of the EAEU. The first challenge comes down to the fact that similar regional economic unions offer a more attractive cost of goods due to reduced transport costs. The second challenge was described by Sarkisyan the following way: “digital platforms changed the logic of division of labor, <…> and, thus, control global transit traffic.” The third challenge comes down to creation of mechanisms of traffic flows of multinational companies in the territory of the EAEU.
Oleg Belozerov, in turn, identified a number of issues of the existing transport system, including the imperfection of the regulatory framework. Nevertheless, the head of Russian Railways noted a number of positive steps towards solving urgent problems and the positive developments in cooperation with partners, including foreign ones.
From the issues of cargo transportation the discussion moved on to the topic of passenger transport. Olga Golodets spoke about tourist routes which are gaining popularity, as well as about the ones which took long to get launched for certain reasons.
The next speaker, Kitack Lim, touched on the subject of maritime transport. He made a report on the activities of the International Maritime Organization and its productive partnership with Russia in the area of maritime transportation and environmental protection.
Then Young Tae Kim, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum, took the floor. He emphasized the important role of “seamless” transit in the international transport agenda and spoke about how the improved transport network contributes to regional, especially Eurasian, integration.
The discussion was concluded by the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Dietrich. He briefly summarized the results of the year and spoke about the main achievements of the country's transport industry and outlined the tasks of the industry for the next year, in particular, in the context of transit traffic and integration processes in the territory of EAEU.
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