Logistics delegation on the development of the Vartius-Kivijärvi border crossing post

The joint logistics delegation of the Northlink group, made up of the ports of Kemi, Oulu, Raahe, Kokkola and Pietarsaari as well as VR Cargo Northern Finland, and the State Provincial Office of Oulu met in Oulu on 10 October 2003. Mr Eino Siuruainen, Governor of Oulu Province, and Mr Sergey Katanandov, head of the Republic of Karelia acted as chairmen of the delegation, and the members were Finnish and Russian customs officials and representatives of firms involved in cross-border trade as well as shipping agencies.

The meeting approved the delegation's vision and strategic goals. The delegation wants to develop the Vartius-Kivijärvi border station into a leading border crossing post in traffic between Europe and north-western Russia. This calls for improvement of data exchange over the border between different actors and flexible cooperation between customs and border officials. The delegation discussed the prerequisites of the implementation of the "Green Line" proposal at the Vartius-Kivijärvi border stations. The matter will be discussed further at the next meeting in Kostamus in March 2004.

It is the delegation's aim to develop the Oulu-Karelia-Archangelsk-Komi corridor into a transport route with a high standard of services, serving both enterprises in the region and logistics service providers. The delegation considers swift opening to commercial traffic of the Ledmozero-Kochkoma branch, which shortens the distance to Murmansk and Archangelsk by over 500 km, to be of vital importance for the development of the economy in the regions of impact of the transport corridor as well as for increasing wellbeing and interaction between people.