Speaking at the congress of transport workers, Mr Ivanov suggested that it was possible to triple transport and logistical services in Russia by 2015. "If we keep up our current progress, we will be able to increase the overall value of transport and logistical services from $48.5 billion to $151 billion," he said. At the same time, Ivanov criticised the system of multimodal transport, observing that its inadequacies lead to huge losses for business. "Serving as a bridge between Europe and Asia, Russia simply has to make the most of its unique transit potential," he said.
He noted that the programme to subsidise air traffic between the Russian Far East and European Russia has been a great success. "Naturally, the government will continue to subsidise passenger flights between the Far East and European Russia," he added.
Mr Ivanov observed that this year alone "hundreds of thousands of passengers have already bought tickets for the summer, thereby bringing considerable profits to our airlines."
The deputy prime minister also noted that Russian oil companies had delayed the mass-scale transfer to eco-friendly Euro 4 grade fuel. "Two years ago, the Ministry of Industry agreed that Russian automobile plants, KAMAZ included, would make Euro 4 engines. The government issued a relevant resolution, but oil executives asked us to wait a year, and than another year, saying they were not ready," Mr Ivanov explained. He added that according to the original technical regulations that entered in force in 2008, all Russian-produced cars were supposed to use Euro 4 grade fuel starting January 1, 2010. However, this deadline had been postponed, and now the carmakers and oil companies had a respite until 2012.
Mr Ivanov also expressed his support for recycling old cars. "It is a good idea to extend this practice, and I support it. After we recycle old cars, we should do the same with old trucks," he emphasized.
Ivanov reported that Gelendzhik Airport in Krasnodar Territory will open at the beginning of this summer and new runways will become operational in Sochi Airport and Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk. He also noted that the new D terminal had opened at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, and the E terminal would soon follow.