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Media : General News

16 March 2010
The Inland Transport Committee holds its 72nd session in Geneva

 
NGO sector of the meeting, with Maria Novikov representing IRF
On 23-25 February 2010, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe held the annual session of its Inland Transport Committee (ITC). The ITC is the highest political body of the UNECE in the field of transport and this year's session brought together high-level officials from the 56 UNECE member States, as well as representatives of 8 intergovernmental organisations and 8 NGOs, including IRF. The Ministerial delegation included the newly appointed Moldovan Minister, Anatolie Salaru, who heads the country’s new Ministry of Transport and Roads Infrastructure. Mr Salaru emphasised the poor condition of Moldova's road infrastructure, which has been allowed to degrade over the past 20 years, and advised that the government was planning to undertake fundamental reforms for the future. Mr Salaru has approached IRF in this connection.

Among key themes of particular interest to IRF, the session addressed assistance to countries with economies in transition, road transport and road safety, the Pan-European Programme, Environmental Aspects of Transport, and ITS. The agenda also included a comprehensive review of the transport situation in the respective UNECE member countries and of emerging development trends.

An afternoon session was devoted to a high-level policy workshop, or 'segment', on inland navigation. The ITC will be holding similar half-day, high-level segments on various topics of interest at each of its future sessions.


High-level Policy Segment "Sustainable Transport Development: The Case of Inland Water Transport"
J. Helmer, Senior Business Manager, Port of Rotterdam; Alexey Klyavin, Director, Department of State Policy for Maritime and River Transport, Ministry of Transport, Russian Federation; Reinhard Vorderwinkler, Head of Department, Navigation – Technical and Nautical Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Austria; Eva Molnar, Director, UNECE Transport Division; Roel Gans, Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Civil Aviation and Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, The Netherlands; Jean-Marie Woehrling, Secretary General, Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR); Reinhard Klingen, Director General, Waterways and Shipping, Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Germany.

A particular focus this year was the issue of transport on inland waterways as the session included a roundtable dedicated to inland navigation, which has significant potential to relieve congested roads and provide better value for money, with less pollution. Participants representing the industry emphasised the need for strategic investment, regulatory reforms and integration of the very fragmented market to unlock the prospective economic and environmental benefits of inland water transport.

 
Panel with Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, Eva Molnar, Director of UNECE Transport Division, Ralph Kellermann, Chairman of the ITC, Michalis Adamantiadis, Chief, Transport Facilitation And Economics Section, UNECE Transport Division.
Discussions on another key transport mode, namely rail, were kicked off by an address from Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways. In his speech, Mr Yakunin outlined how his company plans to develop efficient rail transport corridors between Europe and Asia. According to Mr Yakunin, "the basis of transit flows in the near future should be the transportation of containerised cargo on key international transport corridors, primarily in the transcontinental direction East-West, based on the Trans-Siberian railway." Russian Railways is committed to reducing transit time through Russia along this corridor from 11 to 7 days.

More information, working documents and presentations can be found here.