SCO Secretary-General addresses 82nd session of Inland Transport Committee of UN Economic Commission for Europe

SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov noted that the SCO had established a solid partnership with the UN, as well as its specialised agencies, and that this partnership was expanding and growing ever stronger by the year and encompassing new areas.

According to the SCO Secretary-General, the Resolution, Cooperation between the UN and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, adopted at the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly on 30 August 2019, provided an additional impulse to these relations. The document opens up broad opportunities for regular contacts between the SCO and this universal multilateral organisation and its agencies.

On 19 November 2019, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed a joint high-level special event and expressed confidence that the UN and the SCO could pool their efforts and make a positive contribution to improving people's living standards in Eurasia by strengthening regional cooperation at every possible level.

The SCO's main principles include openness and a non-aligned status; besides, the Organisation is not directed against other states and international organisations. Universality and diverse cooperation encompassing politics, security, the economy, cultural and humanitarian ties have become its distinguishing features.

The SCO hinges on the commitment of member states to the Shanghai Spirit that embodies mutual trust, mutual benefits, equality, mutual consultations, respect for multi-cultural diversity and a striving for joint development.

The SCO's consensus-based decision-making model based on the above-mentioned principles makes the Organisation influential and viable. The SCO region accounts for almost 50 percent of the world's population and for 60 percent of the Eurasian continent. The combined GDP of SCO member states accounts for about 25 percent of the global GDP and may reach 35 to 40 percent of the world's GDP by 2035. Therefore, the SCO has the potential to become a global economic centre in the near future.

The SCO Secretary-General said active work was underway to expand intra-SCO environmental protection cooperation. In June 2018, participants in the SCO Heads of State Council (HSC) meeting in Qingdao passed the SCO Concept on Environmental Protection. The document underscores the need for preserving an intra-SCO environmental balance and restoring biodiversity for the benefit of future generations and in the name of member states' sustainable development. At the same time, environmental security during the development of transport routes remains a focus for the SCO.

Under the SCO Charter, the Organisation's main document, more profound transport cooperation is a high-priority task and is called on to streamline the transit potential of SCO member states, to create favourable conditions for the cost-effective use of the transport-communications infrastructure to attain sustainable development.

Vladimir Norov noted that transport routes played an important role, especially for the landlocked Central Asian countries. In December 2019, Antonio Guterres noted at a plenary meeting of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly that high transport rates absorbing up to 70 percent of export revenues were the most serious obstacle hampering these

countries' access to international markets, and that the international community should provide technical and financial assistance to landlocked countries. This would allow their goods to reach global markets more quickly and would help overcome difficulties linked with geographical isolation.

The SCO Secretary-General noted that the Organisation served as an effective format for merging national and regional integration initiatives, including the Eurasian Economic Union, economic development strategies of Central Asian countries, the Belt and Road Initiative and the North-South International Transport Corridor project.

On 2 November 2019 participants in the SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meeting passed the Concept on Interaction between SCO Railway Administrations (Railways), one of the Organisation's most important documents, which created a legal framework for cooperation in the sphere of railway traffic. This format is called on to help accomplish a comprehensive task of imparting a new quality to expanded transport accessibility and interconnectivity in the SCO region.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation consistently advocates the principle of openness while cooperating with all the concerned countries and international organisations, and it expands collaboration with various UN agencies, Vladimir Norov said. For example, the SCO Secretariat is in dialogue with the UN Economic Commission for Europe on signing a memorandum of understanding that will make it possible to establish relations between both organisations for effectively addressing such things as transport tasks.

The cost-effective joint use of the vast Eurasian territory primarily implies the elimination of various barriers during all types of international traffic. It is necessary to conduct joint work for streamlining the regulatory legal framework and tariffs policy in line with international standards.

On 25 February 2020, Mr Kristof Schockaert, Chair of the Inland Transport Committee, opened the Committee's 82nd Session. Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe Olga Algayerova, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt, and Li Yuwei, Director of Sustainable Transport Division, UNECE, greeted the participants. The speakers mostly dealt with the transport system's environmental challenges during the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda until 2030.

Mr Chair,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to take advantage of this opportunity and cordially thank Olga Algayerova, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, for her invitation to attend the High-Level Segment of the 82nd Session of the Inland Transport Committee.

I am quite certain that this permanent and massive forum will make a substantial contribution to further expanding sustainable inland transport and mobility and help to boost the role of transport innovations in effectively addressing environmental and climatic problems as well as achieving Sustainable Development Goals until 2030.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) attaches special significance to collaboration with the UN and its specialised agencies. The SCO received observer status at the UN under the UN General Assembly's Resolution of 2 December 2004.

I can note with satisfaction that our organisations have established a solid partnership which continues to expand and grow ever stronger each year, while encompassing new areas.

The Resolution, Cooperation between the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, adopted at the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly on 30 August 2019, provided an additional impulse to these relations.

On 19 November 2019 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed a joint high-level special event and expressed confidence that the UN and the SCO could pool their efforts and make a positive contribution to improving people's living standards in Eurasia by strengthening regional cooperation at every level.

The SCO's main principles comprise openness and a non-aligned status; besides, the Organisation is not directed against other states and international organisations. Universality and diverse cooperation encompassing politics, security, the economy, cultural and humanitarian ties have become its distinguishing features.

The SCO hinges on the commitment of member states to the Shanghai Spirit that embodies mutual trust, mutual benefits, equality, mutual consultations, respect for multi-cultural diversity and a striving for joint development.

The SCO's consensus-based decision-making model on the above-mentioned principles makes the Organisation influential and viable.

The SCO region accounts for almost 50 percent of the world's population and for 60 percent of the Eurasian continent. The combined GDP of SCO member states accounts for about 25 percent of the global GDP and is expected to reach 35 to 40 percent of the world's GDP by 2035. Therefore, the SCO has the potential to become a global economic centre in the near future.

Active work is underway to expand intra-SCO environmental protection cooperation. In June 2018, participants in the SCO Heads of State Council (HSC) meeting in Qingdao passed the relevant Cooperation Concept. The document underscores the need for preserving an intra-SCO environmental balance and restoring biodiversity for the benefit of future generations and in the name of member states' sustainable development. At the same time, the SCO focuses on maintaining environmental security during the development of transport routes.

The SCO boasts over 13 million kilometres of motorways (almost 20 percent of their global length) and about 312,000 kilometres of railway tracks. Fifty percent of the regional railways have electric traction. This infrastructure facilitates expanded trade and economic and transport-logistic collaboration as well as the regional interconnectivity of SCO member states.

Under the SCO Charter, the Organisation's main document, more profound transport

cooperation is a high-priority task and is called on to streamline the transit potential of SCO member states, to create favourable conditions for the cost-effective use of the transport-communications infrastructure to attain sustainable development.

Transport communications play an important role, especially for the landlocked Central Asian countries, the SCO's nucleus, that are located a long way away from commercial shipping lanes.

In December 2019, Antonio Guterres noted at a plenary meeting of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly that high transport rates absorbing up to 70 percent of export revenues were the most serious obstacle hampering these countries' access to international markets, and that the international community should provide technical and financial assistance to landlocked countries. This would allow their goods to reach the global markets more quickly and would also help overcome the difficulties linked with geographical isolation.

It is important to note that the Organisation serves as an effective format for merging national and regional integration initiatives, including the Eurasian Economic Union, economic development strategies of Central Asian countries, the Belt and Road Initiative and the North-South International Transport Corridor project. Under China's Belt and Road Initiative, there are plans to build the new 10,900-kilometre long Asian-European Transcontinental Transport Corridor from China to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, via Central Asia and Russia.

On 2 November 2019 participants in the SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meeting passed the Concept on Interaction between SCO Railway Administrations (Railways), one of the Organisation's most important documents. It created a legal framework for cooperation in the sphere of railway traffic. This format is called on to help accomplish a comprehensive task of imparting a new quality to expanded transport accessibility and interconnectivity in the SCO region.

All this highlights the tremendous untapped potential and the significance of transcontinental haulage. Each year, China delivers over 23 million containers to Southeast Asia and Europe. Since 2010, container traffic from China to Europe has soared 40 times over.

According to the European Commission, the 2019 China-EU railway traffic accounted for just 1.3 percent of the volume of freight traffic and for 2.6 percent of their total value, although railway transport is usually less costly than transport by air and faster than by sea.

All this confirms the considerable cooperation potential in the field of road and railway freight traffic between SCO member countries and Europe.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation consistently advocates the principle of openness while cooperating with all the concerned countries and international organisations, and it expands collaboration with various UN agencies.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the SCO Secretariat and the Secretariat of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), signed on 21 January 2008, played an important part in this context. The document stipulates collaboration between both organisations in some spheres, primarily the transport sector. While relying on the Memorandum's provisions, the UNESCAP Secretariat provided constructive assistance in drafting the SCO Member States Agreement on Facilitation of International Road Transport, signed in 2014.

This document stipulates unimpeded road traffic and freight deliveries along 15,000 kilometres of high-speed roads. The Agreement's six routes provide member countries with new opportunities in the field of trade and economic and transport-logistic collaboration and facilitate expanded regional interconnectivity. This completely meets the provisions of the Vienna Declaration and the Vienna Action Programme for Landlocked Developing Countries, approved by the UN General Assembly resolution on 12 December 2014.

The SCO Secretariat is in dialogue with the UN Economic Commission for Europe on signing a memorandum of understanding that will make it possible to establish relations between both organisations for effectively addressing such things as transport.

We believe that the cost-effective joint use of the vast Eurasian territory primarily implies the elimination of various barriers during all types of international haulage. It is necessary to conduct joint work for streamlining the regulatory legal framework and tariffs policy in line with international standards.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the SCO member states are determined to more actively establish new transport routes and to upgrade the existing ones so that they meet the standards of today in the name of common interests and for the benefit of our nations.

I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to invite the session's participants to attend a joint High-Level Event on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development along the trans-continental Eurasian Transport Corridors.

Thank you.