Speeches: Vladimir Florea, AITA President, Moldova

7th IRU East-West Road Transport Conference Budapest, 15-16 May 2003 Budapest Congress Centre (BCC), Alkotas u. 63-67 - 1123 Budapest, Hungary

The ways of integration of the Republic of Moldova to the European Transport Market from the point of view of a non Ec-Member country
which has no access to the maritime routes.

Vladimir Florea
AITA President, Moldova

Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have a quite complicated task to fulfill - I have to present the arguments that could persuade you and - I hope - first of all those who represent here transition economy countries similar to the Republic of Moldova - that in spite of the fact that, unfortunately, we are not the candidates to the EC we still have the chance to continue the integration to the international transport markets and not to stay outside the Europe in isolation.

If we regard the geographical location of Moldova in this context (Slide 1) it becomes clear that Moldavian transport operators do not have an easy access to the international markets especially taking into consideration that we do not have any direct access to the see routes. In these conditions road transport plays increasingly important role for the foreign trade and tourism. We do clearly understand what are those factors that increase the role of the road transport in foreign trade and exchange of goods from Moldova.

Firstly- the increase of the integration processes the lead us to the unified European transport system. The following elements have a positive influence:

• Participation of Moldova in different international projects- first of al TRACECA - aimed at creation of a transport segment of the Transport Corridor No2 on the territory of Moldova.
• Promotion of the project - sponsored by the World Bank - aimed at modernization of the border customs offices in order to facilitate the transit of goods and passengers through Moldova, implementation of the new control systems and fight against smuggle.
• In Moldova we pay special attention to the issue of creation of a 'free economic zone' on the borders of the tree states: Moldova, Romania and Ukraine within the frames of the PABSEC - Parliament Assembly of the Black See Economic Cooperation.

Secondly- the more intensive attention is paid on the issue of harmonization of the legal basis on the field of transport. The legal basis is more and more oriented on the requirements related to the access to the European markets (environmental and technical standards). This is just a beginning of a large and courageous plan of the modification of the whole national legislation.

Recently, European Commission have created a regional project for the Balkan countries - REBIS (Regional Balkans Infrastructure Study) sponsoring about 150 projects on the field of transport. One of the main REBIS purposes is to approximate the standards of these countries on the field of transport to those of the European Community. Being an active member of the Stability Pact for the South-Eastern Europe Moldova is highly interested in this project having the same priorities as the Balkan countries.

However, we are realists and we understand that our location outside the EC is an permanent chasing for a ghost where the problems and barriers for out transport operators will grow faster and faster.

Let me take just one example - 'the visa pressing'. Every candidate country is currently introducing its own visa and this means a line and a paper wall not only at the border but also away from it. (Slide 2).
For example:
To do one typical for our hauliers transport operation from Moldova to Greece than to Russia, than to Turkey and back to Moldova one would need 4 visas which totally cost USD 440,--. Each of the visa is valid for 3-6 months. It should be noted that some of the embassies issue visas only in Bucharest and the German Embassy in our country does not acknowledge any invitations from other countries of the Schengen Area. Paradox!
During the last year - the direct visa costs for our transport operators were over USD 800.000.-

• The most importantand already presented suggestions that where already proposed by the East-European associations are the following:
• To introduce annual multiple visa and take into account the used ECMT quota.
• To foresee an option to receive a visa at the entry border-crossing point of a country.
• To introduce, finally, a special passport for the international drivers similar to the 'Sailor's passport'.

We - the transport operators of the non-candidate countries need to find the answers for the following challenging questions:

• How to access the transport market in these new conditions?
• What are the mechanisms due to which the future shocks will be mitigated and the fair competition will be guaranteed?

I believe that to answer these question we need - first of all - to have a well-coordinated policy and to identify those priorities that could make our markets - especially in the CIS countries - attractive and well-organized. This was the purpose of creation the concept of the unified economic area of the 4 CIS countries and further on - of all the CIS countries. First of all we heed to be associates and act in a more coordinated way - this is the only way to make our voice heard not only by the state authorities but also the international bodies.

In this context I would like to pay a special attention on Moldova's membership in the ECMT which gives significant benefits to our transport operators. For the Moldavian hauliers this is - first oh all - a possibility to work on the international market using the ECMT authorization quota. We understand that the very existence of this international mechanism requires a constant perfection of the scheme of the proper use of this important goods exchange tool. In this context we fully agree with the IRU Resolution adopted by the Council of Direction in November 2002 addressed to the ECMT and underlining the importance of keeping this transport markets allocation facility.However, I would like to express out firm opinion that the quota system should not be reviewed. We understand that in the EC countries this matter will soon be unimportant but for the rest of the countries - this is a matter of their survival.

We believe that in the constantly changing Europe the ECMT strategy should also be modified. It should evolve from quota and other restricting principles towards the unified principles of the legal regulation of the transport policy basis in the ECMT member-states. This relates to the harmonization of the legal basis of the countries belonging to the different systems as well as to the transit policy. The examples of these may be the following: support of implementation of the Unified International Weight Certificate in Europe for the international road transport, implementation of the unified criteria to assess the technical and environmental condition of a vehicle, safety and traffic.I would like to touch such matter as physical and non-physical barriers. The real status of the matter shows that the only way to oppose the transnational market barriers and distortions is to rely on the international bodies, tools and mechanisms such as the WTO. It is now 2 years since the Republic of Moldova is the WTO member-state.

I would like to remind that Article 5 of the GATT Agreement foresees - in case of necessity - an option to introduce some clear and tangible rules in order to stop the practice of creation of artificial barriers for the goods transport.Simultaneously with that it is quite hard to identify some of the barriers that are specifically of transport and trade nature (corruption and smuggle). Unfortunately, WTO members are not quite willing to start the complicated disputes settlement procedures though they are - perhaps - one of the main barriers for the goods and tourist traffic and cause the ungrounded blames addressed to the transport industry.If such organizations like ECMT and WTO would jointly analyze the barriers for the goods and tourists exchange - certainly border-crossing would be one of the most significant obstacle for the trade and transport development as well as tourism.This matter requires our special attention especially in the Central - and East-European regions.

It is absolutely clear that the growth of trade and road transport have already surpassed the relevant capacity of the border-crossing points in many parts of Europe.

Finally I would like to note that it is the right time for the international bodies and professional international organizations - no matter which geopolitical systems they belong - should take additional efforts, demonstrate a positive approach to forecast future and distinctively new situation of the transport market of our continent. The purpose of this is to achieve a real facilitation of the international transport which is an important nations-uniting factor.
Thank you for your kind attention.

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