Brussels, 17/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Russia has “enormous potential” in the field of transport and aviation in particular, but it is largely underused, said European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas, calling on the Russian authorities to step up their partnership with the EU in this field. Kallas, who was in Moscow on Wednesday 17 November, met Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin. This Thursday, he is to meet the chairman of the Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin.
In a speech on Wednesday at the “Transport of Russia” forum held in the Russian capital, Kallas painted a fairly disastrous picture of the current situation, calling on the Russian authorities to invest more in transport infrastructure. In the road sector, the volume “of exports of European transporters is three times higher than the volume of imports”, meaning that a large number of trucks make empty return journeys, Kallas explained. There are a number of obstacles to road transport, according to the EU: - problems on the border, particularly complex customs procedures; - the poor state of roads, particularly in sections close to the borders; - road safety problems; - the safety of freight and drivers; - pricing policies, which are non-uniform and non-transparent, for the use of the roads. As for rail transport, Kallas spoke of the German-Russian project (between Deutsche Bahn and Russian Railways) to develop trans-continental rail freight corridors between Europe and China. “This project can only be appreciated and supported”, he said, stressing Russia's role in the transit transport between Europe and South-East Asia. But “to offer a real alternative to maritime transport is a big challenge”, which “must be commercially viable”, he said, adding that the key elements of this liability are “services, price and speed”. A substantial investment will be needed to develop this route, particularly to bypass the obstacles such as the capacity of the Russian Railways to manage the greatest flows of traffic and problems related to gauge differences (1435 mm in Europe and China and 1520 in Russia). The European Commissioner also criticised Russia's “isolation” in the field of aviation, an approach which is not only not “viable”, but also “very expensive”. “There is no advanced and competitive Russian airline competing in the global aviation markets. Aeroflot has about 100 aeroplanes; Air France-KLM, 624”, he said. “The European Union has its own economic interest in developing cooperation with Russia in the transport field”, yet our current relationship “is a waste of opportunities”, Kallas concluded, announcing that together with his Russian counterpart, he has started to explore ways of breaking the deadlock. (A.By./trans.fl)