Meeting with Transport Ministers from 24 Countries.Part 2
November 20, 2009
The Kremlin, Moscow
Выступление на встрече с министрами транспорта иностранных государств.
20 ноября 2009 года
Москва, Кремль
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV:
The whole infrastructure support dimension of passenger and freight transport still takes far too much time. This is another area for further work.
Developing the cross-polar routes that are increasingly popular with freight companies all around the world is another promising area. The number of flights taking these routes is increasing every year. More than 12,000 such flights were made between 2001 and 2008. Around 600 transit flights follow cross-polar routes every month at the moment, linking the developing countries of Southeast Asia with the North American market. I think this is an area where Russia has possibilities of its own to offer.
Specialists calculate that northern routes transiting via Siberian airports could eventually become one of the main directions on the market for Asian-American transport links. A technical audit carried out showed that 14 airports in Siberia and the Far East could serve as reserve airports for cross-polar flights. I bring up this subject deliberately before this particular audience in order to underscore the unique possibilities that Russia can offer by virtue of its particular geographical location. We need to work with each of the countries present here to reach agreements on all of the issues involved, paying close attention, of course, to developing the international law basis of our cooperation, drafting new conventions, and improving existing international agreements in this area.
Coming to another subject that I think is logical to raise before this audience, aside from environmental threats and the climate change problems caused by transport, we all face a common threat to transport itself, namely piracy, pirate attacks on freight and passenger vessels. A few decades ago, this subject would have sounded exotic, like something out of books, because events of this kind were relatively infrequent.
But today we are witnessing a real explosion in piracy. This is essentially just as much a global challenge as terrorism and drugs trafficking. Many countries navies are now taking part in efforts to protect shipping, but the problem is still there and so we need to keep working. I made some decisions in this area just yesterday as it happens. But to be honest, the measures taken so far have not radically changed the situation, and there are several reasons for this.
First of all, piracy has become a rather profitable business, and one that is hard to control.
Second, I think the international community has not yet done enough to coordinate a common position. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and participant in various international groups and organisations, Russia supports the drafting of coordinated action measures, including the establishment of a separate criminal court to try piracy cases. I do not overestimate the importance of this step, but I nevertheless consider it a step worth taking.
The problem is that when we do catch pirates, and Russia has done so on a number of occasions, no one knows what to do with them from there. If we return them to the place they came from the next day they are back in their boats and continuing their piracy business. Of course, we could always do as in mediaeval times and hang them from the masts, but that does not really fit with our ideas of what constitutes humane treatment.
The only alternative is therefore to improve the criminal legislation. A number of my European colleagues propose using national courts, in particular the courts of some of the countries located in the regions where pirates are most active, but I think that, unfortunately, this is no panacea. I think that we will have to come back to this idea or examine the possibility of giving the relevant powers to existing criminal courts.
There is one more important matter I want to say a few words on the question of a barrier-free transport environment for people with disabilities. All countries have people with disabilities, and we need to think about how convenient the environment is for their use. It is our common duty to create an environment in which people with disabilities can be mobile. Next year, we plan to adopt a special five-year state programme, which we have called An Accessible Environment. I think this is an area in which we should also coordinate our approaches.
Once more, I want to welcome you all, thank you for taking part, and express my hope for close cooperation with you all on transport and infrastructure issues.
http://www.kremlin.ru
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kalogeroxx 2 years ago
Респект и уважение!!!Логика и отсутствие ханженства и наглости .
27173929 2 years ago