Stepping into the XXI century
A VISIBLE PERSPECTIVE
Boris Usanov, Professor
Eighteen months have passed since the International Transport Conference in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It was initiated not only as the 4-th European, but also as the 1-st Euro-Asian conference, because, for the first time, it is considering problems of communication between the two continents. Its declaration, which became the official UN document, declared the development of transcontinental links between Europe and Asia.
As time goes by, the decisions of the Euro-Asian Conference adopted that summer are becoming more and more perceptible. Memorandums on the development of the Barents Sea - Euro-Arctic and Black Sea transportation zones have already been signed. A working group studying all aspects of the development of the transportation corridor in the direction of the Asian-Pacific region via China and by the Trans-Siberian Railroad has been formed. They are acquiring a much greater significance for our city and for the entire North-West of Russia. I mean, first and foremost, everything that is related to the 9-th international transport corridor. This involves the Baltic Bridge project, the setting up of the Transrusexpress shipping line and the forthcoming construction of the ring road around St.Petersburg, which is a major link in the conjunction between the E-18 Scandinavian and the M-10 Russian roads.
A number of international documents already classify the Baltic region, the North-West of Russia and St.Petersburg as a constituent part of a new zone of economic development in Europe and as one of the organizing centres in the Baltic region. In the EC documents one can read about working out mechanisms for financing objectives of transport infrastructure in cooperation with Russia. And in this respect it is the 9-th corridor, which is obviously being defined as the most advantageous. It is the only zone in Russia that borders on the EC. It is also representing the symbiosis of all means of transportation, where sea routes are directly linked with the internal water routes of Russia. Besides, certain traditions have been formed here and considerable experience for the setting up of a multifunctional transport junction has been accumulated.
This does not mean that the 9-th corridor development process is not disputed. Proceeding from the data stated by the Council of Ministers of Northern countries, there is enough work for everyone on the Baltic. Nowadays, 60 mln tons of Russian transit goods pass through the ports of the Baltic states. 23 mln tons pass through the ports of Ukraine. Altogether this makes for 30% of the sea-borne freight turnover of Russia. But here appears the TRASKEKA international transport corridor project, formerly known as the Great Silk Way.
It bypasses Russia. Therefore, we can't stay indifferent: we should develop the 9-th corridor with the view of bringing it nearer to the Caspian and Black Seas. The 2-nd International Euro-Asian Transport Conference is supposed to play a decisive role in solving this problem. It is fixed for September 2000. However, considerable steps in this direction are already being taken. To begin with, I mean the setting up of the inter-regional information and analysis centres of transport logistics. In the direction of the Black Sea branch of the 9-th corridor three of them are being planned, and one of them in St. Petersburg. A dynamic data bank of this centre, known as TRIADAP, has already been formed and patented.
|
