On 14 July,  2005 the first meeting of Expert Working Group on transport security in all modes of transport of the  EU – the Black sea/ Caspian basin region was held in Brussels.           

          This Meeting was organized by the Directorate General for Energy and Transport  of European Commission in cooperation with Directorate General for External Relations and European Aid. 

Action was attended by representatives of the following countries:  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan as well as by experts of TRACECA, EurAsEC and the European Commission.  

There was the director of State enterprise „Maritime Security Agency” –    G. Skvortsov in composition of the Ukrainian delegation.  He gave a report about state of play of  fulfillment by Ukraine of it’s international obligations in the sphere of maritime security.

 Improvement of bilateral relations between the States-participants and EU in the issues, concerning transport security was the purpose of the 1-st meeting of the Expert Working Group.

The   intensive meeting has allowed for a productive exchange on transport security issues. Discussions have been held in a very productive and positive atmosphere tackling a broad range of respective security practices and common goals. The main objective of the EU Black Sea - Caspian Basin transport security working group is to improve dialogue on transport and supply chain security, in order to allow for a better mutual understanding and to progressively analyse the different ways and means towards improving transport security measures practices. It is also worth mentioning that the final results of this dialogue will be used as guidelines for the programming of transport activities in the context of the new financial instruments of the European Union that will be in force after 2007.

Working Group directed it’s the work on correct implementation of all international recommendations related to safety on all types of transport (ISAO (International organization of civil aviation), IMO, UNESE (European Economic Commission of UNO), WCO (Worldwide Custom Organization, ILO (International Labour Organization etc). 

Presentation of transport security measures was made by representatives of:  EU,  Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and Russian Federation. Turkish delegation presented the national program of control of air-port security  quality control. Ukraine – role of the State enterprise „Maritime Security Agency”. Bulgaria and Romania described the national systems of road security. Russia presented progress of development of the system of railways and mass transportations.

The meeting emphasised that terrorism does not pay attention to the national boundaries, therefore it is vital to support the greatest standards of safety in regions, bounded by Atlantic, the Caspian and the Mediterranean  seas.

Also was noted the necessity of adjusting of more near collaboration by holding regular sessions and information exchange about new measures and the best used practices. 

Training of experts in the field of security in all modes of transport  was identified as a priority issue of future co-operation. 

It was declared about conducting to the end of current year of two meetings of representatives of ministries of transport of countries Black sea-Caspian basin region with participation of representatives of European transport structures and organizations.

The first meeting will be held in October in Kazakhstan.

Second, possibly, will be held in December in Ukraine.  

Participants expressed sympathy with the victims of terrorist attack on July, 7 in London. 

It was accepted decision, that conclusions on the given meeting will be presented at the next Conference of Ministries of Transport of region the EU-Black Sea – the Caspian basin, which will be held at the beginning of 2006.

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