IN THE COUNTRIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH

Development along different though interrelated lines

Georgiy Kryzhanovsky,
President of the International Transportation Academy

         The trend towards gradual economic stability observed throughout the CIS during these last few years has paved the way for cooperation, which is central to continuing successful economic reforms. Nobody doubts that an important line of cooperation is the establishment of a common commodity distribution chain in a common transportation market. A number of recent intergovernmental agreements prove this point.
         The concrete activities of intergovernmental commissions, established to solve various cooperation issues in the transportation industry, are practically a prerequisite for the successful development of the national economies. These specific programs and projects are now being implemented within the CIS transportation network. However, practice shows that some shortcomings in the production of transportation services and consumption are factors that obstruct business activity and prevent the inflow of foreign capital so needed for industrial development.
        Our insufficient experience in the administration of intergovernmental cooperation is a major impediment. Divergent priorities within the transportation network, different approaches to organizing a common commodity distribution chain, and inadequate attention to the creation of practical mechanisms for the implementation and follow-up of agreements, often show that the intensive activities of intergovernmental authorities towards development and negotiation are inefficient from the viewpoint of active transport service market operators.
        As far back as 1994, a transportation conference (made up of ministers of transport) developed a Coordinated Transportation Policy valid up to the year 2000. This created a single-minded process for transportation support of developing national economies during a transitional period. This could be considered an initial stage in the establishment of an intergovernmental regulative and legal system to govern the transportation service market. The document adopted at that time enabled transportation authorities as well as intergovernmental committees to achieve some positive results in solving a number of important problems in the coordination of separate transportation modes. However, the network embracing the Member States of the Economic Union is now failing to meet the needs of our developing economies. These committees underestimate the importance of a systematic approach to solving the economic problems of transition and implementation of further reforms.
        Together with the implementation of adopted programs and projects to develop a transportation network and a common transportation service market, it is also necessary to prepare and submit a number of new drafts to the competent authorities. Based on data analysis, it is important to include steps in these drafts for creating transportation cooperation among the Member States of the Economic Union, to clearly formulate the specific problems, to define common policies towards a common commodity distribution network and to establish a common transportation service market.
        The CIS Commission on Free Trade and the Department of Transport have developed a Concept for CIS cooperation in order to establish a common transportation space up to the year 2010. It is based on the diverse experience of Independent Member States of the Economic Union, which again proves that a more systematic approach is necessary for solving the existing problems.
        The Concept's main purpose is to build objective prerequisites for a transportation network segment to achieve the basic political targets of the Economic Union. A primary target is to formulate and negotiate common approaches by intergovernmental and national authorities for the administration of transportation networks.
        The first type of problems the Concept deals with, are the non-conformities in the existing transportation structure and operation, replacing them with the modern economic and political conditions and realities of the post-soviet area.
         The second problem is creating new intergovernmental and governmental regulations designed for transportation system development and operation in the post-soviet area. A reason for this is the specific role of transportation in the development of the independent state economies under market conditions. It is impossible to create equal and favorable conditions for the industrial, agricultural and transportation service sectors when there are no effective regulations on transportation.
        Finally, the third set of problems is the unequal allocation of sites for equipment manufacturing and repairs throughout the area of the former USSR. For this reason, transportation agencies have been forced to initiate the development and implementation of equipment production and renovation in almost every country. This means it is economically viable to expand transportation cooperation to effectively use each country's transportation infrastructure within the present market.
        It is important to identify the basic lines of transportation cooperation and the order of priorities for the development and implementation of individual programs, eliminating the reasons and consequences of central problems. Transportation cooperation can and must develop along different though interrelated lines.
        The International Transportation Academy is studying specific steps for ordering and harmonizing national transportation laws, customs, tariff policies, national transportation leasing support programs and developed personnel systems for the network. These problems are being worked on in close contact with intergovernmental agencies and national transportation authorities.