Press Center

30.11.2016

The Results of the First Day of the International Forum and Exhibition Transport of Russia.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Sergey Ivanov, Special Representative of the President of Russia for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport, read out a welcome letter of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the participants and guests of the Forum and Exhibition Transport of Russia. “I believe the results of the Forum and Exhibition will promote the leadership of Russian transport industry and enhancing its competitiveness on international markets of transportation services”, the letter stated.

Addressing the Forum, Maksim Sokolov, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, stressed the importance of interaction between transportation, IT and technology companies. “Today, the Forum celebrates its tenth anniversary, but it is just the beginning the way. Our destination is multimodal future and the country that is close to everybody”.

During an open discussion Business. Government. People, Deputy Ministers of Transport of the Russian Federation answered the questions of the moderator and the audience. Aleksey Tsydenov, spoke about the prospects of freight and passenger rail traffic development, while Nikolay Asaul answered a number of questions about the development of off-street transportation.

The key event of the business program was a plenary discussion Transport of Russia. What Future Lies Ahead. In his welcome address, Maksim Sokolov noted: “Being one of the constitutive elements of our economy, transport is essential in the life of everybody. And of course, it must correspond to existing challenges, while remaining a generator of new technologies and services”. Speaking about the future of transport industry, the Minister touched on such issues as the creation of single digital space, expansion of high-speed communication and improving the level of transport facilities security and safety. “The best way to avoid negative effects of accidents is prevention. For this reason, today’s transport and transport of the future requires modern control and navigation systems available anywhere on the planet”, Maksim Sokolov said.

Sergey Kogogin, CEO of Kamaz, noted that today, more Russians forgo private cars in favor of public transport, because it is often much easier, since Russian public transportation system is highly developed, especially in megalopolices. “Private car is no longer in trend, for it brings more worries than comfort. Those who do not owe a car have more time to enjoy themselves”, he explained.

Oleg Belozyorov, President of Russian Railways, told about the company’s projects and the way Digital Railway will change the sphere. Special attention in the implementation of the project is paid to innovative services for passengers and shippers. Passengers get the opportunity to use Wi-Fi, multimedia content, mobile solutions for planning and paying for multimodal travel or tourist routes, e-commerce services. “The main course for the development of transport industry will be integration of the various means of transportation into a unified system”, he said.

The business programme also included a round table discussion Public Private Partnership (PPP) Market in the Road Industry: Challenges and Prospects. The participants discussed different ways to attract investment in the development of road infrastructure and shared experiences of finished PPP projects in Russia. Addressing the round table, Roman Starovoyt, Head of Federal Road Agency, stressed that successful implementation of PPP projects requires a professional team, especially in the regions. “Today, our challenge is preparation of high-quality projects”, he explained.

Another event held within the framework of the forum was an industry conference Innovations on Railway Transport that discussed the future of railway industry and projects being implemented by Russian companies. Olga Surikova, Director of Corporate Accounts of Alstom’s representing company, spoke about alternative fuels for railway transport that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%. Lu Bo, President of International Business Department of CREC, shared China’s experience of high-speed network projects implementation.

The first business day of the forum was finished with a plenary session GLONASS ERA - Era of Intelligent Roads. The event was attended by Igor Levitin, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation , Andrey Nedosekov, CEO of GLONASS, and Aleksandr Gurko, President of GLONASS UNION. According to Maksim Sokolov, a successful implementation of GLONASS ERA project enabled Russia to become a recognized leader in the field of civil use of satellite navigation technologies. “Today, our transport sector is the largest consumer of global satellite navigation system GLONASS and other space technologies”, he said.

The participants of the industry conference Training and Certification of Seafarers discussed seafarers training and qualification and exchanged views on the international experience in this field. They agreed that today, Russian navy lacks skilled personnel and that is what we should work on now.

During the forum, representatives of public authorities, transport companies and business structures signed 17 agreements and memorandums in many fields of transportation industry with witness of Maksim Sokolov, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation.