Welcome Letters
Philippe Citroen, Director-General UNIFE
Dear Expo 1520 Organisers (Business Dialogue), Dear Friends from RZD and NP-UIRE, Dear Attendees of Expo 1520,
On behalf of UNIFE, the European Rail Industry Association, we are honoured to be attending the fifth edition of the Expo 1520 conference here in Moscow, and specifically this conference celebrating the 170th anniversary of Russian transport engineering, and, furthermore, to have the chance to continue to learn about the Russian railway sector and market and further develop important relationships with stakeholders in Russia and around the world. We would like to thank Business Dialogue for their organisation of this event and for being invited to participate in high-level panels such as this and others organised throughout the Expo 1520. UNIFE has been privileged, over the past 8 years, to have had the opportunity to develop a strong working relationship with NP-UIRE and RZD on common standards and requirements and the International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS) which has had significant uptake by the Russian rail sector.
UNIFE first signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NP-UIRE in 2007 and in the past two years, which included subsequent cooperation agreements (some of which were signed at previous editions of the EXPO 1520), the work between our two organisations has ramped up significantly. Most notably, this culminated in the publication of the Conformity Assessment and Authorisation of Railway Products in the Customs Union in the framework of Eurasian Economic Community and the European Union document which was officially announced with NP-UIRE in September 2014 in Berlin. This document is a great step towards mutual understanding and development of common standards and requirements for authorisation in our respective railway systems and towards the harmonisation of the two regulatory and standardisation frameworks. Moreover, NP-UIRE and RZD’s huge involvement and support of IRIS has been instrumental in the success of the scheme in Russia and across the globe. The cooperation between our UNIFE and NP-UIRE is crucial for the continued development of both the Russian and EU railways and economies and we are confident to have more fruitful exchanges with RZD and NP-UIRE in the future.
Russia continues to be a very important market for UNIFE members; and we are very pleased to be part of this important conference that celebrates the rich and successful history of Russian transport engineering and showcases all the latest technological developments on the Russian railway system.
We wish you an excellent conference and Expo!
Philippe Citroen
Director-General
UNIFE
