A round table on the subject “Ways to reform the sea port structure of the Russian Federation” took place on 17 November 2010 as part of the IV International Forum “Transport of Russia”. Igor Levitin, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, took part in the event.

In his speech as part of the round table on the subject “Ways to reform the sea port structure of the Russian Federation”, Transport Minister Igor Levitin noted that the issue of reforming the port industry is important and complex. There were costs involved in setting up the federal state unitary enterprise Rosmorport. But, said the minister, this was a path we had to take. In the future we would like to see sea ports being competitive and attractive to business.

Igor Rusu, General Director of Rosmorport, spoke about the need for structural reform and proposals for the reform of the sea port industry. He noted that independent experts had been involved in examining this question – specialists from the Russian Federation Government’s Academy of the National Economy and the legal company Vegas Lex – and global experience had also been studied. As a result of research in many options, flotation on the stock market was chosen as the best organisational and legal framework from the point of view of the company’s aims and objectives. Changes to the company’s structure are envisaged, from the point of view of its branch network and putting non-core assets into subsidiary companies. As a result of all these changes, Rosmorport should turn into a holding company.

The participants in the round table were presented with the draft strategy concept paper for the development of Russia’s sea port infrastructure up to 2030, prepared by the Russian Federation Government’s Academy of the National Economy and Maritime & Transport Business Solutions.

The representatives of government bodies, business, science and associations who spoke in the round table stated the need for reforms to the sea port infrastructure. It was noted that issuing Rosmorport’s shares entailed great potential for development, both for the company and for the industry as a whole. Attention was also drawn to the need to examine the question more carefully. The need was also stated to harmonise the strategy for developing the Russian Federation’s sea port infrastructure with other transport strategies, the main industry strategies and the strategies of Russia’s maritime regions.

The 30th anniversary session of the Coordination Transport Meeting of the CIS member states (CTM CIS), chaired by Igor Levitin, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, took place on 17 November 2010 as part of the IV International Forum “Transport of Russia”.

Transport ministers from the CIS states, representatives of government bodies, heads of industry transport councils and representatives of international transport organisations and educational establishments took part in its work.

Opening the session, Ivan Shcherba, Minister of Transport of Belarus, gave a brief introductory speech in which he announced the main results of operations by the transport sector of the CIS states this year. According to his information, in the first half of 2010 the aggregate freight turnover in the CIS countries grew by 12% in comparison with the same period of 2009. At the same time the indices for inland water transport rose by 1%, for road transport by 5% and for railway transport by 11%. The best performance was shown by the air transport industry, whose indices soared by 33%. Only transportation by sea fell by 0.2%.

Apart from this, Ivan Shcherba informed those present of the progress in developing the legal and regulatory framework for cooperation in the transport sector as one of the high-priority areas of activity for the CTM CIS aimed at creating a common transport space for the CIS member states for the purpose of creating a general transport space for the CIS member states and creating the conditions for the safe and efficient functioning of all types of transport.

The participants in the meeting then moved on to discussing the agenda, which includes a wide spectrum of organisational issues concerning the activity of the CTM CIS in the interests of developing and strengthening international partnership. This included examining measures to open the inland waterways of the Russian Federation to vessels from the CIS states, and discussing the need for information cooperation by means of introducing legally recognised electronic documents.

“The meeting of the CTM, to which the best transport experts are coming, promotes the development of an innovative approach to the implementation of joint plans in the field of transport in the territory of the CIS,” stated Chingiz Izmailov, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the CTM CIS.

An agreement on mutual cooperation between the CTM CIS and the industry’s international association of trade unions was signed during the conference, as well as a plan for measures concerning the forming and functioning of the transport system of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in 2011–2012.

At the conclusion of the CTM CIS’s work Igor Levitin, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, awarded the “Honoured transport worker of the Commonwealth of Independent States” medal to a number of heads of transport ministries and departments, enterprises and organisations, noting their great contribution to the development of the transport systems of the CIS states, strengthening cooperation in the CIS transport space, and their active participation in the work of the CTM CIS.

A conference entitled “Implementing the integrated programme to ensure safety on transport” took place on 17 November 2010 as part of the IV International Forum “Transport of Russia”.
Andrei Nedosekov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, who spoke at the conference, emphasised in his speech that the issue of safety is not simply topical.
“Today this is a matter of the survival of the transport system and the Russian state,” stated the deputy minister.

A. Nedosekov said that it had become possible to resolve many issues with regard to ensuring safety and averting the terrorist threat, as well as preventing acts of illegal interference with transport operations, thanks to active cooperation with the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other federal government bodies. He gave a positive assessment of the results of implementing the integrated programme to ensure the safety of the population on transport, expressing the hope that joint work would make it possible to raise the level of comfort for our citizens during journeys and protect transport from illegal actions.

Gennady Denisyuk, deputy director of the department for transport safety and special programmes in Russia’s Ministry of Transport, spoke in more detail about progress in implementing the programme. He singled out the main priority areas and also a number of objectives whose implementation will make it possible to create an integrated system for safety on transport – in particular, increasing the protection of passengers and staff on transport from acts of illegal interference, including those of a terrorist nature, and also from emergency situations of a natural or man-made nature; creating an information service system for the population on transport; increasing the population’s awareness in the area of ensuring safety on transport; creating a system of professional training for specialists in the field of ensuring transport safety; harmonising the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of ensuring transport safety.

Apart from this G. Denisyuk announced measures being taken within the framework of the programme on each type of transport and drew attention to the fact that regulatory enforcement of the measures being implemented is an important stage in implementation of the Integrated Programme.

We would remind you that the IV International Forum “Transport of Russia” is taking place as part of “Transport Week 2010” from 17 to 20 November at leading venues in the city of Moscow. The organiser of the events is the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, and Business Dialogue is acting as operator.