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AD/G7879/PKR

Warsaw, 15 June 2007

DECLARATION
"THE ROAD TO SUCCESS: EURO-ASIAN FREIGHT MARKET
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES"

Declaration adopted during the 4th Euro-Asian Road Transport Conference, held in Warsaw, Poland, 14-15 June 2007

The world is changing

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, economic development has been driven by globalisation. The main effect of globalisation in a liberalised economy is to produce the best products and to trade under the best possible social, economic and fiscal conditions. The market is global for everyone and the economic driving force will also seek optimal localisation for its business activities.

This globalisation process – together with the enormous differences between liberalised national economies as regards knowledge, availability of raw materials and social costs – will lead to a dramatic increase not only in trade and transport but also in specific customer demand and competition.

We must change with it

However, despite this major change, actors concerned by globalisation, such as governments and other organisations and agencies, are not doing enough to put in place and implement the necessary accompanying measures concerning the changing production processes, trade and above all, logistics chains. Therefore, it is vital to wake up and monitor carefully the fundamental shift and the changes taking place in the way people are doing business.

In such highly competitive market conditions, it is the task of every entrepreneur to seek and take advantage of the best opportunities. The creation of added value – including in the supply chain – is becoming so complex that no single company, no single association, no single fleet operator will be able to achieve this efficiently alone.

We must act small and big

Small and large companies and organisations alike are obliged on one hand to act small in order to meet the increasing demand for customised service and product added value in specific tasks, and on the other hand to act big, making use of worldwide logistic co-operation networks, which allow them to act on a global scale.

Indeed, due to the size of the global market, such new business opportunities can only be seized by the most efficient partnerships.

Road transport contributes to progress

The organisation of the series of IRU Euro-Asian Conferences in Irkutsk, 2001, Tehran, 2003 and Beijing, 2005, the latter coupled with a joint Ministerial Conference also featuring the departure of the first Beijing-Brussels truck caravan, is proof that the IRU has the right vision and undertakes the right actions to adapt the road transport industry to the changing world.

The reopening of the Silk Road is the result of the willingness of several governments, businesses and other organisations - from the EU, CIS, Middle East and China and even the US and other overseas nations - to increase trade with Asia. However, faced with port congestion and the need for goods to be put on the shelves in compliance with just-in-time schedules, there is an imperative need to cooperate not only to carry goods along this major inter-continental transport corridor, but especially to irrigate and interconnect all the countries, societies, economies, and businesses along the Silk Road.

All players must assume their responsibilities

The pioneering spirit demonstrates clearly that road transport is always at the disposal of everyone everywhere to unite people and to better distribute wealth and consequently, that it needs to be facilitated.

Top priority must be given to improving the political perception of the road transport industry’s activities and irreplaceable role in driving progress. Recognition of road transport’s role will guide all players to effectively address the key challenges facing the road transport industry in Euro-Asian transport relations today by:

Abolishing politically misguided and economically punitive policies of authorities in countries along the Silk Road in order to allow the free movement of commercial vehicles and their drivers, thus keeping transport and therefore production costs at competitive levels that create positive advantages and additional employment in today’s global economy;

Adapting modern and harmonised fiscal, social, technical, market and administrative legislation all along the Silk Road to facilitate rather than hamper road transport, on which the mobility of people and goods is dependent;

Streamlining border crossing administrative procedures and requirements to facilitate smooth road freight traffic between regions and countries along the Silk Road through the accession to and efficient implementation of United Nations, World Trade Organisation and other trade and road transport facilitation instruments (for example the TIR System) as well as streamlining border control procedures;

Continuing and successfully concluding the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Round on trade facilitation including streamlined legal conditions for the free flow of traffic, the freedom of setting up and investing in transport and logistic companies in countries along the Silk Road, the free transfer of transport and logistic know-how to the benefit of international trade and transport;

Supporting innovative industry-initiated pilot road freight transport operations as a viable and highly efficient transport option along the various branches of the Silk Road between Asia and Europe; the industry will follow up these pilots by developing a Road Map for the revitalisation of the Silk Road, which should include the most important actions to be undertaken to this end, at national, regional and international levels, during the next 3-5-year period;

Introducing incentives to modernise Euro-Asian logistic industries through inventing and applying new technological solutions for complex logistic tasks including the latest transportation techniques, computerised information and telecommunications schemes and other modern technical solutions;

Supporting the competencies and skills of transport workers, in particular drivers employed in the road transport industry, by attracting more young people to the profession and enhancing professional training provided by the IRU Academy’s international network of road transport training institutes;

Facilitating visa issuance arrangements for professional drivers by generalising the use of long-term multi-entry visas requiring simplified application formalities and faster application processing subject to reasonable visa fees, as well as relying on the services of road transport associations to identify applicants as bona fide professional drivers;

Cooperating closely with all actors concerned to increase the security of the supply chain along the Silk Road by using the best methods and practices accumulated in implementing existing international conventions (e.g. the TIR System serving as a secure operator certification tool for the World Customs Organisation SAFE Framework of Standards) as well as national regulations and the transport industry’s own security guidelines, the construction and operation of secure parking areas;

Maintaining and operating road and border crossing infrastructure in such an efficient way so as to absorb increasing local, regional and inter-regional road freight traffic along all the branches of the Silk Road; interconnect European and Asian networks if need be by building missing links;

Our objectives can be achieved by implementing the IRU slogan

The challenges of developing road freight transport along the Silk Road can be met only through a genuine public-private partnership, where all parties are guided by the IRU’s slogan “Working Together for a Better Future!”

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