Strasbourg, 30/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, stated the three strategic priorities - digitalisation, decarbonisation and internationalisation - for relations between Europe and Asia in the field of transport, in Riga on Wednesday 29 April at the start of the meeting of transport ministers of the Asia-Europe dialogue (ASEM).
Welcoming this “very important meeting”, she said that the leaders of both continents should communicate their “own strategic priorities” to each other, in order “to better understand the other one”. For the EU, she listed three strategic priorities: digitalisation, decarbonisation and internationalisation. She also dwelt at length on three “key questions” for the development of Asia-Europe transport: the multi-modal dimension, cooperation in developing rules and standards, and the importance of respecting the environment. She spoke on this point for quite some time, stressing that “green, today, does not mean more expensive, but innovative. The climate agenda should not be an obstacle, but an enabler”, the Commissioner added.
Weng Mengyong, the Chinese Vice-Minister for transport, also announced several priorities, including: - improving the transport corridors between Asia and Europe, identifying priority projects; - increased effort on logistics; and work to regulate the transport sector.
Anrijs Matiss, the Latvian transport minister, said that the meeting would focus on land and rail transport, two vital sectors for his country, which imports many products from central Asia by road and rail (see EUROPE 11303). However, Violeta Bulc concentrated on the issues of aviation and maritime transport in her speech. The ministerial meeting was to end on Thursday with the adoption of a final statement. (Jean Comte)