Financing solutions for road and rail transport infrastructure in focus at OSCE-supported conference in Vienna

VIENNA, 17 November 2010 - Government ministers, international officials, policy makers and experts discussed solutions to financing of road and rail transport infrastructure in the wake of the financial crisis in an OSCE-supported conference held today in Vienna.

Participants exchanged experiences within the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Trans-European Motorways and Trans-European Railway projects, which provide a co-operation platform for almost 20 Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries.

Goran Svilanovic, the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, said funding was needed not only for building infrastructure, but also to remove obstacles such as cumbersome border crossing procedures.

"Maximizing transport and transit potential across the OSCE and UNECE region - through upgrading or further developing the infrastructure and by improving the efficiency of border crossings along major transport routes - can help our economies to overcome the consequences of the crisis," he said. "Facilitated and more secure transportation will lead to higher volumes of trade and revenue collection and to reduced opportunities for smuggling and corruption."

The UNECE Executive Secretary, UN Under-Secretary-General Jan Kubis, added:

"Ensuring adequate provision of infrastructure is a key responsibility of governments because the transport sector has important implications for society and the economy. Also, the nature of transport infrastructure does not allow for full reliance on market forces."

Public-private-partnerships could be one way of contributing financing to such projects, he said.

Around 90 participants, including representatives of railway and transport authorities in Central Asia, took part in the meeting.

The OSCE support for the conference followed discussions on improving land transportation and facilitating international transport by road and rail held during the 2010 OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, the last part of which was held in May in Prague.