The president of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, recently met with the Guild of Travel and Tourism of Great Britain.
During a speech, Mr Yakunin called for the development of improved relations between the UK and Russia.
He spoke about the main projects of Russian Railways aimed at the ‘integration of the company into European and Asian economic space’.
Vladimir Yakunin spoke about the importance of relationships across the globe leading to greater mutual understanding and cooperation between nations, communities and business partnerships.
Yakunin said that ‘nowadays in the maintenance of cultural contacts with the past the problem of connections between civilisations is becoming very significant. In this aspect railways are the most important means of communication’.
He emphasised the ‘importance of tourism development of railways’ and said that rail doesn’t mean only travel and tourism but also infrastructure for economic development.
By 2015, Russian Railways intends to invest R600bn in its network.
Yakunin has said that they are ‘short’ of financing around R400bn and so are ‘planning to borrow on the financial markets’.
