Meeting with Transport Ministers from 24 Countries.Part 1
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: Colleagues,
I would like to say a few words at the start of our meeting today. First of all, I wish you all a warm welcome to the Kremlin. I want to thank you for coming to Russia and taking part in the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and the International Transport Forum [Transport of Russia: Establishment, Development and Prospects]. Some of you are taking part in one event, and some in both.
Modernising and developing transport infrastructure are priorities for all countries and one of the most effective means of boosting economic growth, and Russias economy is no exception. Our efforts in this area will unquestionably lay foundations for the future and not just for our transport system at the national level, but for the international transport network too. There can be no doubt that drawing up a transport development strategy is one of the cornerstones for future cooperation between our countries. I hope that these topical issues are all on the agenda at the forum here in Moscow.
We are all striving to develop our transport networks today. Russia is making considerable efforts to expand its transport network, although, given its huge territory, Russia is also one of the most complicated countries in this respect. Transport infrastructure development has always been a very relevant issue in Russia. It was relevant 300 years ago and no doubt will still be relevant in 50 years to come, because economic growth, population spread, and resolving international issues will all require continued investment in developing transport links and infrastructure.
We are investing considerable sums of money in this field if you take into account investment as a whole in our economy. We have begun using concession agreements (a point I want to make separately), which until recently were something exotic here, though I must say that we are still in the process of learning how to use this instrument. There is still much to be done. Unfortunately, in my view, introduction of new technology for building roads and other transport facilities is not proceeding as fast we would like, but it is certainly our objective to get this process moving.
One of our priorities is to make traffic safe and convenient. We are all working together on building modern means of transport and adding to our transport safety systems. I made this point yesterday at the First Global Conference on Road Safety. I want to say again today that developing technical solutions is a very important task. In particular, we are currently drafting a special regulation on road safety, and we would like to coordinate this work with our colleagues from other countries.
The environment is another subject related to transport safety. This is a universal issue. I just came back from Singapore, where the Asia-Pacific region countries discussed this matter together. The day before yesterday, at the European Union - Russia summit in Stockholm, we also had quite in-depth discussions on environmental issues, climate change, and preparation for the Copenhagen conference. We realise the full importance of these issues and are aware that motor vehicles are one of the biggest sources of environmental pollution today. Motor vehicles account for around 40 percent of the liquid petroleum fuel burned today, and it is this that is the main contributor to emissions and the greenhouse effect. I therefore believe that environmental safety and energy efficiency should also be part of our discussions together. These are all related problems. They create difficulties for all of us, but this does not mean that we can ignore them.
Russia has some truly unique possibilities to offer, and this is why we want to expand work on developing the North-South and West-East transport corridors. All we need to do for this is build modern multimodal logistics centres and improve procedures and facilities at the borders. Some steps have been taken already, but I think this is still not enough.
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Д.Медведев.На встрече с министрами транспорта.20.11.09.Part 2by niknikolay144 views
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