13주차_교통과환경_신효민

[신효민]

Keynote speech at the World Bank's annual Transforming Transportation 2026 Conference

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_608

2026년 3월 11일

speaker: 유럽연합(EU)의 아포스톨로스 치치코스타스 European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism

Washington, DC

words: 411

glossary

1. Ministerial Roundtable - 장관급 라운드테이블

2. Black Sea - 흑해

3. trade corridors - 무역 회랑 (국가·지역 간 무역을 연결하는 주요 교통로)
4. maritime chokepoint - 해상 요충지 /  해상 병목지점

5. Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) - 범유럽 교통망

President, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for the invitation. It is a great honour to address this Ministerial Roundtable at the World Bank.

We meet at a moment when transport has become profoundly geopolitical.

Today, conflicts and geopolitical tensions are no longer shaping diplomacy alone;

they are reshaping global supply chains, energy markets and transport routes.

The war in Ukraine has disrupted Black Sea shipping and triggered a historic reconfiguration of trade corridors.

At the same time, the crisis in the Gulf, including the instability affecting the Strait of Hormuz, reminds us that a single maritime chokepoint can send shockwaves through the entire global economy.

Nearly 20% of the world's oil supply transits through Hormuz, and any disruption immediately affects energy prices, freight costs and supply chains on multiple continents.

More broadly, around 80% of global trade by volume travels by sea, and over one third of global trade by value moves by air.

When transport corridors are disrupted, inflation rises, industries slow down and jobs are put at risk.

In a world increasingly marked by strategic competition, climate shocks and economic fragmentation, transport resilience has become a matter of economic security.

This is why today's discussion is so important.

Transport infrastructure is no longer only about moving goods and people.

It is about power, partnerships and prosperity.

For developing economies, connectivity is decisive.

According to the World Bank, a 10% improvement in transport connectivity can increase trade by up to 15%. Every 1 billion dollars invested in transport infrastructure can create up to 20,000 jobs across construction, logistics and manufacturing.

Transport corridors connect farmers to markets, workers to jobs and regions to global value chains.

But connectivity must also be resilient and diversified, because the past decade has shown us just how fragile global networks can be.

We have experienced a pandemic, supply chain shocks, cyber risks, climate disasters and now multiple geopolitical conflicts.

The lesson is clear:

the world needs more corridors, more routes and more partnerships, not fewer.

Within the European Union, we are implementing one of the most ambitious transport transformations in the world.

Our Trans-European Transport Network(TEN-T) connects 424 major European cities, 329 seaports, 38 major airports and tens of thousands of kilometres of rail and road infrastructure.

Altogether, it represents over 1.5 trillion euros in transport infrastructure across the continent.

But TEN-T is not only an infrastructure project.

It is also a geopolitical connectivity project designed to strengthen economic cohesion and reduce strategic vulnerabilities.