FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Vienna Conference on New Silk Road Rail Cooperation

Feb. 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Russia’s railway company RZD and Austria’s railway company ÖBB are co-sponsors of a three-day conference, “1520 Strategic Partnership (SP1520): Central Europe,” beginning in Vienna today. The theme of the event which gathers numerous rail technology firms, in addition to the 20 railway companies from Europe, Russia, and the other former Soviet republics that are members of the SP1520 organization, is “New Silk Road 1435-1520: Moving Towards Each Other,” referring to the two railway gauges in use on the Eurasian continent.

The conference will be addressed by, among others, RZD President Oleg Belozerov, and Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov on “chances and challenges for rail transport in the Eurasian corridor, as well as new opportunities in the context of the realization of the New Silk Road,” the ÖBB’s announcement says. ÖBB CEO Andreas Mattae himself is a strong proponent of railway connectivity along the New Silk Road, with a prominent role of the Austrians’ cooperation with China.