The External Relations of the Region and the Role of the Transport Complex in Ensuring their Success

In the second half of the 18th century, A. Smith noted: “Since water transport opens up wider markets for any industry than those accessible only by land transportation, it is on the sea coasts and along the fullflowing rivers that any sphere of production naturally begins to be subdivided and improved, and often it does not take long for these improvements to spread to the interior of the country.” In this section, based on theoretical analysis, we will determine the contribution of the transport complex to ensuring the region’s external relations. Numerous theories developed by researchers provide theoretical justification for the transport complex's role in regional economic development and the formation of its external economic relations. These theories can be categorized based on their scope of application, initial premises, use of mathematical tools, and other factors. In this study, we will consider the presence of a center of economic activity in the region as the foundation for classification. The first group represents the classical German school of spatial placement, which assumes a particular center of regional economic activity.