Prime Minister Andrus Ansip welcomed to Stenbock House Igor Levitin, Russian Minister of Transport, who was on a two-day visit to Estonia. Cooperation issues related to transit and border crossing were the most important themes of the meeting.
Levitin informed Ansip of the situation in the transit business in Russia, noting that transit volumes are expected to increase continuously in northwest Russia. According to Levitin, railway transport is profitable if distances exceed 3000 kilometres; motor transport is a more efficient means in the event of shorter distances. In connection with this, Russia considers the construction of the new Narva Bridge to be important. The Prime Minister expressed a hope that a relevant protocol of intentions would already be signed in the near future. “I hope that our relationship will increasingly be based on constructive cooperation”, the Prime Minister added.
While discussing the issue of border cooperation, both parties stated that although the cooperation between the border checkpoints is good, the crossing capacity of the borders is not satisfactory. According to Levitin, Russia has thousands of kilometres of undeveloped borders in Central Asia, which also slows down the development of frontiers with the countries of the European Union. According to Levitin, Russia hopes to primarily build common border crossing points in cooperation with the European Union. “At the moment, though, it is unclear on the territory of which country the common border crossing points, either on one side of the border or the other, are to be built,” Levitin said.
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Briefing Room of Estonian Government Communication Office
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