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Only 7 years have passed since the 1st European Transport Forum was held in Prague, but the dramatic economic and social changes in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region have led to industrial recession and to diminishing of the volume of freight traffic. However, the forecasts of experts and huge interests of foreign partners in the economy of Russia as a whole and the north-western region in particular, draw a lot of attention to the rapid development of transport infrastructure. Both Mr. Yakovlev and Mr. Gustov underlined in their talks at the Conference and on its eve that the region is unique because of its geographic position on the European map, its industrial, scientific and high-tech potential, as well as projects being implemented and those planned for the future. One may assume that these factors influenced the decisions adopted at the 2nd All-European Conference which defined the nine transport corridors. Three of them run through Russia, and one of them, namely Corridor 9, crosses the north-western region linking Helsinki to Moscow. As Sergei Frank, Russian Transport Minister, noted in his speech, it was a well-grounded evaluation of the country's potential which prompted the clarification of the Corridor System defined at Crete. The development of the 9th Corridor's sections leading to Novorossiisk and Astrakhan and the section of the 2nd Corridor leading to Novgorod, were deemed to be quite promising because they will provide junction with the transport systems of CIS's Central Asian states. It is clear that these and other similar changes gave rise to new ideas and projects for the expansion of existing transport facilities. In St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, according to the speakers at the Conference, this means construction of new and expansion of existing seaports, projected ring-roads and high-speed highways, introduction of logistics systems and new technologies. It is characteristic that such steps are now being taken by all the countries connected with transport corridors. Representatives of Kazakhstan, Byelorus, Germany, Finland, India and other countries of Europe and Asia discussed this point on the Conference's opening day. Thus each country, while appearing just to be solving its own problems, is in fact assisting in the achievement of one and the same goal - the perfection of transport communications as a whole.
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