European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani (second from left) poses for a group photograph with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė (second from right) and the Lithuanian and Chinese transport ministers at the Asia-Europe Connect Transport Development Forum held in Vilnius on Monday. Photo by Adam Mullett.
VILNIUS — A European Commission vice president said Monday that Europe’s safety standards in transport have to be extended to Asia for strengthened ties to be realized between the two regions.
European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani mentioned safety standards for civil transport in rail and air travel as part of the current Asia-Europe Connect Transport Development Forum held in Vilnius on Monday.
“The European Union has made a blacklist system for safety and security — this has become synonymous with passenger security so I see this as a success story. We would like to turn this into a worldwide list. This is not a national list, but a global concern,” Tajani said adding that these sorts of “best practice” ideals should be a key priority of the forum.
“We want the development of safe and efficient and ecologically compatible transport. This meeting will show its ability to be a key player,” he said.
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport of Italy, Altero Matteoli, said at the conference that road transport safety is particularly important.
“Road accidents are a social problem — we can’t accept them as part of economic development. Our transport needs to be clean, efficient and safe,” Matteoli said.
Narrow scope
Tajani said a limited number of trade routes should be selected and focused on for development.
“We should identify a limited amount of corridors and these must be identified by the intensity of use and suitability for international trade. In this respect its important that all countries here deepen cooperation while looking at trade, safety and security issues,” Tajani said. “If we want to achieve our shared goals we need to create corridors between Europe and Asia — strengthen ties, make new ones and remove bottlenecks.”
The transport conference in Vilnius is the first of its kind. Ministers and business leaders from all over the world, particularly the Baltic Sea region and China are attending the discussion on Monday and Tuesday.
“This conference will address major issues related to infrastructure and services between east and west – contributing to global recovery in economy, particularly important to us in Lithuania. We have to help maintain trade flows,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said at the conference.
