President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin spoke at Shanghai Forum
On May 23, 2015, President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin spoke at the opening of the 10th Shanghai Forum.
According to the press center of Russian Railways, the speech of the company’s president was devoted to the integration of the Trans-Eurasian Belt RAZVITIE (TEBR) and initiatives for the development of China's Silk Road Economic Belt.
Vladimir Yakunin said that, under the conditions of the continuing macroeconomic instability, the primary objectives include the need to promote and maintain regional economic cooperation, the expansion of knowledge, and exchanging experience between East and West. According to him, the basis of such cooperation should be the joint implementation of major infrastructure, industrial, and energy projects.
"One of the priorities of Russian–Chinese cooperation is the implementation of a full-scale mechanism for dialogue to unify the Eurasian economic integration process and develop the Silk Road Economic Belt," said Vladimir Yakunin.
He reminded the participants of the forum of the joint statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 8 this year on deepening the comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as on cooperation in the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union and Silk Road Economic Belt.
"In this light, we see a unique opportunity to integrate the Russian megaproject of the Trans-Eurasian Belt RAZVITIE and the One Belt–One Way initiative of our Chinese partners," said the president of Russian Railways.
Vladimir Yakunin emphasized that the integration of these initiatives is based not only on geography; they must be understood in a broader format.
"It is not just about the integration of transport infrastructure and synchronization projects, but, much more importantly, the complete unification of formats and Eurasian cooperation mechanisms and the general accumulation of resources in order to achieve global goals," said Mr. Yakunin.
The president of the company presented to the audience the main aspects of the TEBR project. He focused on the programs implemented by the Russian Federation and Russian Railways aimed at creating a system of international transport corridors, which should be the basis for promoting global megaprojects.
"We are making significant efforts to implement the idea of reconstructing the Trans-Korean Railway; in 2014, the universal transshipment terminal at the port of Rajin was launched with a capacity of 5 million t; at the same time, trial deliveries of Russian coal were sent through South Korea to China. Our cooperation with China and other Asia-Pacific countries has reached unprecedented proportions," said Mr. Yakunin.
Network multimodal infrastructure—rail, road, energy, water transport, and information—should be the basis of this belt. The development of the system will be accompanied by the construction of new scientific research, design, and industrial centers and cities with a large number of new jobs, which in turn become a source of advanced industrialization.
Against this background, according to the president of Russian Railways, the key role is played by international freight routes from east to west, acting as a bridge between Western Europe and Asia-Pacific economic centers.
