In the Amur Region, a new passenger terminal has been built at Blagoveshchensk Ignatyevo Airport. In the Rostov Region, the first phase of the Bagayevsky hydro system on the Don River, which will facilitate large-tonnage shipping and increase freight traffic towards the Azov-Black Sea basin, was completed. In St Petersburg, the next construction stage of the Latitudinal High-Speed Motorway is being launched. This route will connect the city with motorways in the Leningrad Region and improve logistics. In addition, driverless freight transport has been launched along the M12 Vostok motorway.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon,
Today, several major and significant events are taking place in the transport sector. I am confident they will have a positive impact on its development and contribute to strengthening the national economy as a whole.
Let me briefly outline them. A new passenger terminal has been built at the airport in Blagoveshchensk. It is expected to give an additional boost to the socioeconomic development of the Amur Region and the entire Russian Far East, as well as to expand tourism and promote business ties with foreign countries.
Next, in the Rostov Region, the first stage of the Bagayevsky hydro system on the Don River has been completed. This will enable large-capacity shipping and increase freight traffic towards the Azov-Black Sea basin. As far as I am aware, water depth there will be up to four metres.
In St Petersburg, construction of the next phase of the Latitudinal High-Speed Motorway is being launched. The project will link the city with major routes in the Leningrad Region, improve logistics, and ease transit congestion in the historic centre.
In addition, driverless freight transport is being launched today along the M12 Vostok motorway. This will create a single autonomous freight corridor connecting St Petersburg and Kazan, with plans to expand the use of smart transport technology to other key federal motorways in the future.
I would like to thank all the specialists involved in implementing these important projects for their professionalism, responsibility, and valuable contribution to this shared effort.
All these facilities and initiatives are part of our broader, system-wide effort to create a unified modern transport and logistics framework for the country, to boost safety and comfort of travel for our citizens, and to improve connectivity between regions. Crucially, these efforts fully align with our plans to take part in the development of new international transport and logistics corridors.
I would like to emphasise once again that Russia has enormous logistics and transit potential. Taking into account the profound shifts in the global economy, it is essential that we harness this potential as effectively as possible, both to diversify global logistics flows and to provide new routes that are safer, more reliable, and economically advantageous.
To this end, we will continue modernising transport infrastructure and expanding the network of federal and regional roads. We will enhance the safety and sustainability of navigation along the Northern Sea Route and across the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor, while also increasing the capacity of the Eastern Operating Domain.
Crucially, the development of our transport system – including road, air, rail, river, and sea networks, as well as cross-border checkpoints – must rely on advanced technologies and modern digital platforms. These solutions provide a clear competitive edge, allowing us to tackle challenges more efficiently, lower costs, enhance service quality, and offer truly unique transport services.
A prime example of such innovation is autonomous transport, which has already demonstrated its cost-effectiveness. To date, I believe our autonomous vehicles have covered 13 million accident-free kilometres on Russian roads.
I am aware that these topics, along with many other issues related to the development of Russia’s transport sector, the strengthening of integration ties, and the creation of a new global transport framework, will be addressed at the International Transport and Logistics Forum, which opens tomorrow in St Petersburg. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the forum every success.
Let us now move on to our agenda.
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