OREANDA-NEWS. February 28, 2013. The 75th jubilee session of the Inland Transport Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe hold in Geneva. As part of this event, the meeting of the regional transport ministers was held today on the theme "Introducing the Eurasian Transport Network." The "Joint Declaration on the Euro-Asian Rail Transport and Unified Railway Law" will be signed there.

Vladimir Yakunin, President of JSC Russian Railways, gave a speech at the meeting on the creation of a unified railway law as a factor for developing transportation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

In his speech, Vladimir Yakunin said that the legal harmonization of railway systems of different standards is attracting more and more attention from international organizations, and the success of legal harmonization depends on how direct services will be developed between China, South Korea, India, and other Asian countries and Europe in the near future.

He also brought into focus that the major task of international organizations (first and foremost of the Inland Transport Committee) is to create an effective platform for the unification of railway law.

Speaking of the need to unify legal procedures for rail freight, Vladimir Yakunin reminded the meeting that the only successfully implemented international project in this area is the introduction of the CIM/ SMGS Consignment Note jointly developed by CIT and the OSJD, which ensures unimpeded transportation by rail as it applies to Western and Eastern transport law. He said that the November 2012 CIM/SMGS was first successfully tested in the transcontinental route China--Europe. Under the auspices of OSJD, a container train travelled through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, and Poland from Chongqing (China) to Duisburg (Germany).

"In connection with this, let me as Chairman of the UIC assure you that this union will seek to develop diverse cooperation with the Inland Transport Committee of legal harmonization in terms of interoperability, simplifying border-crossing procedures, innovation and intelligent transport systems, and other important aspects of rail" said Yakunin.

Speaking about the planned signing as part of the activities of the Joint Declaration on Eurasian rail transport and Unified Railway Law, the President of RZD noted that this is a major event in the global transportation industry. According to him, the creation of a unified rail transport law is a deliberate step prompted by the experience of states and companies interested in increasing the volume of foreign trade and the implementation of transit potential.

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In the period from 2003 to 2007, the UNECE and ESCAP jointly implemented the first phase of the project. In the course of its implementation, the main Eurasian land transport routes have been identified, 230 projects along these routes have been prioritized, and a database and GIS maps have been developed.

After the second phase of the project (2008–2011), to create a database on the routes, relevant maps of major Eurasian routes and a general methodology for evaluating and prioritizing projects on the selected routes were prepared. At this stage, the issue of demonstration runs on EATL routes was considered.

The initiative for the Euro-Asian transport links came from the Russian Federation. The most important objectives of the Euro-Asian transport links at the international level were assigned at the First International Eurasian Conference on Transport (St. Petersburg, May 1998).

The main Euro-Asian transport corridors were identified at the Second International Eurasian Conference on Transport (St. Petersburg, September 2000): Southern and Central, as well as those passing through the territory of Russia (Trans-Siberian and North-South corridors).

A detailed strategy and initiatives for the development of an integrated Euro-Asian transport system was defined at the Third International Eurasian Conference on Transport (St. Petersburg, September 2003).

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The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is one of five regional commissions of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN: a UN permanent intergovernmental body designed to promote the economic development and cooperation of its member countries and the improvement of living standards of their population in important areas such as environment, transport, improved terms of trade, industry and business, statistics, economic analysis, energy, etc.

The headquarters of the UNECE is in Geneva (Switzerland). The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Sven Alkalaj (Bosnia and Herzegovina), was elected on March 8, 2012.

There are 56 members countries in the ECE: Austria, Azerbaijan, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Israel, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, and Estonia.

Relations between the Russian Federation and the UNECE are developing dynamically. The Economic Commission for Europe is one of the priorities of international organizations in Russia from political and practical points of view.

Russia is actively involved in the standards-related activities of the UNECE and in intergovernmental dialogues on issues of economic and social development in the framework of the commission, which operates a large number of specialized bodies carrying out work at the expert level. The most intensively developing cooperation is in the fields of transport, energy, environment, standardization, and business development.