Geneva, 29 April 1999
ECE/TRANS/99/4
TRANSPORT MINISTERS
AGREE TO FACILITATE INTERNATIONAL
ROAD TRANSPORT IN
SOUTHEAST EUROPE
At a Conference in Athens held
yesterday (on 28 April 1999), Ministers of Transport of Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Republic of
Moldova, Romania, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and
Turkey have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to
facilitate and liberalize international road transport of goods
in Southeast Europe. Slovenia will sign the MoU at a later stage.
The Ministerial Conference was
hosted by the Government of Greece in the framework of the
Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) which was
launched in December 1996 as a support mechanism for the Dayton
Peace Agreement. The main objective of SECI is to encourage
cooperation among its participating States and to facilitate
their integration into European structures. This initiative is
being supported by Austria, Italy, the Russian Federation,
Switzerland and the United States of America.
The Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) has been prepared by the SECI Project Group on Border
Crossing Facilitation, chaired by Mr. Y. Maniatis,
Secretary-General at the Greek Ministry of Transport and
Communications with substantive assistance by the Transport
Division of the UN/ECE secretariat.
The MoU addresses the most
urgent problems and deficiencies of international road transport
and trade in Southeast Europe, which are not only due to a lack
of adequate infrastructure, but also due to complex border
crossing procedures and other institutional, regulatory and
economic barriers.
Detailed information on the
content of the MoU is contained in UN/ECE Press Release
ECE/TRANS/99/3 dated 23 April 1999.
At the signing ceremony held at
the closing of the Conference, the Chairman of the Conference,
Greek Minister of Transport Mr. A. Mantelis stressed that this
MoU was intended as the starting point and a framework for the
liberalization and harmonization of international road transport
in the SECI participating States in line with the rules
prevailing in most other European countries and, in particular,
in the European Community. Signing of the MoU was however only
the first step. The provisions of the MoU would now need to be
implemented through bilateral negotiations with the assistance of
a newly established Regional Road Transport Committee. Greece was
prepared to host the first session of this Committee in 1999.
The Executive Secretary of the
UN/ECE, Mr. Y. Berthelot, stressed that, in spite of the complex
and often sensitive topics addressed in the MoU, the preparatory
process that has led to its finalization was characterized by a
constructive, cooperative and friendly atmosphere. This
demonstrated the interest and the capability of the SECI
participating States to find regional solutions to common
problems in fields that hinder economic and social development.
He also expressed the hope that this MoU would send a positive
signal and an incentive to all participating States in Southeast
Europe to act in the same manner in other regional activities
within or outside of the SECI initiative.
Ambassador R. Shifter of the
United States, the initiator of SECI, pointed out that signing of
the MoU by nine States of Southeast Europe at the present time
was a sign of hope and underlined that the pragmatic approach
taken by the SECI initiative had led to tangible results within a
relatively short time. Other SECI Project Groups, for example on
cross border crime prevention chaired by Romania, were also
expected to arrive at concrete results in the next few weeks.
Additional information may also
be obtained directly from:
Mr. Martin Magold
Chief, Border Crossing
Facilitation Section
UN/ECE Transport
Division
or
Mr. Will Keenan
Regional Adviser
UN/ECE Trade Division
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10
Tel: (+41 22) 917 24 53
(Mr. Magold)
Tel: (+41 22) 917 27 93
(Mr. Keenan)
Fax: (+41 22) 917 00 39
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]