Russia insists global transport decisions be made on int`l level

ROME, November 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia insists it necessary to make
decisions in global transport policies only on international levels, and
all the decisions of the kind should be made jointly, Russia's Minister of
Transport Igor Levitin said on Monday during a Conference on global issues
of ecology and energy in transport, where representatives of 25 countries
from Europe and other continents participated along with major
international organisations involved in transport.
"We have a certain discussion with the EU about making global
decisions," he said. The EU "at its level makes decisions on air and sea
transport which do not comply" with the norms, approved by international
organisations.
"We should follow the decisions that are made jointly at international
levels," Levitin said. "The present situation is not correct as the EU
does not have a right to make decisions for the countries it does not
unite."
Levitin spoke about the norms for emissions of carbon dioxide in civil aviation and the attempts to introduce similar measures on emissions in sea transport.
The Conference was organised for the first time in Tokyo back in 2009, where the participants discussed mostly the influence of transport on the ecology.
"This is an important issue for us, since the means of transport in Russia are not modern mostly," Levitin said.
He expressed confidence that both on the federal and local levels "it would be necessary to set a target to lower the influence of transport on the ecology."
"That is why we pay special attention to replacing old vehicles
especially in public transportation," he said.
Levitin told the participants in the conference about a new gas
locomotive, produced in Russia.
The Conference will result in a joint document, which will be signed by transport ministers on November 9th, to list basic directions for the development of international cooperation in lowering of the impact from transport on the ecology.