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Speeches: Masoud Khansari, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Roads & Transportation
First of all, I would like to express gratitude on behalf of the Ministry of Road and Transport and all the officials involved in Road Transport Industry of I.R.I., for the opportunity provided for me to attend and deliver a short speech at the 7th IRU East-West Road Transport Conference and also I would like to extend my appreciation to the government and the nation of the Republic of Hungary, especially the residents of the beautiful city of Budapest for their cordiality and warm hospitality. I am hopeful that the positive and constructive outcome of this meeting, like all other IRU meetings, would provide solidarity, convergence and cooperation between all IRU member states, and also forms the necessary foundations of sustainable transport growth and development. Distinguished Guests Growth in technology and development of information, communication and transport networks in the last two decades has resulted in remarkable and fundamental change in global economy and trade, and the underlying factor has been an increased reliance on international trade as the primary engine of economic growth and development. This major and strategic shift could not happen if regional and global convergence and cooperation did not exist, and also if transportation had not played its vital and pivotal role, as the necessary infrastructure for global trade. Road transport with its intrinsic features and enormous flexibility and possibility of providing JIT and door to door transport services has played a very crucial role in this process and it is commonly expected that road transport will continue to hold its great share and play its critical role in growth and development of global economy and trade. At this juncture different land transport corridors are functional and engaged in Europe-Asian, or east-west trade which seems that, due to important changes that are happening in the Middle-east region, it could be expected that new corridors with shorter distances and higher economic efficiencies be imagined, for example by traveling from east and passing through Iran and Iraq territory and eventually accessing the Mediterranean coast. Mr. Chairman, Esteemed Colleagues Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to cooperate in a study to plan new East -West Corridors and especially the Corridor passing through Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to reach the hub ports in the Mediterranean coast which seems after forming necessary security status in the Middle-east region, could be considered among the most important, efficient and economic east-west routes. Furthermore, I have the privilege to announce that the International North- South Transport Corridor which links the Indian Ocean sphere to Northern Europe, potentially with less distance and time, compared to existing marine routes has increased its members from the three initial founding states namely Russia, India and Iran to five states including Kazakhstan and Belarusian, and also six other states namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Tajikistan, Oman and Syria are in the process of accession to the aforesaid agreement and approximately 15 other states have announced their interest to accede to the Intergovernmental Agreement on North-South Corridor through diversified means, which in this context and with this outlook will transform this regional treaty to one of the greatest regional transport treaties. Dignified Audience I have the privilege to announce that North-South Corridor is capable of providing outstanding and important logistic services to East-West Corridors, despite the fact that a great deal of time has not been passed since it has been launched and in its short duration has made significant successes. I like to announce that, we consider North - South Corridor as a complementary facility for East-West Corridors to make access to South (i.e. Indian Ocean sphere) and also to North (i.e. Russia and Northern Europe) and we are completely ready to exert mutual cooperation and render necessary logistics and transport services. Distinguished Guests, Esteemed Colleagues I have the privilege to announce that the 2nd Asia-Europe Road Transport Conference of IRU will be hosted by the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran in the near future and hereby all esteemed colleagues are invited to attend this important event which will be undertaken in Tehran on 6 to 7th of October 2003. Mr. Chairman, Dignified, Audience At the conclusion while expressing my gratitude once again for the opportunity provided for me at this forum, I would request permission to bring my speech to an end with a brief demonstration of the road to Iran. |
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