The expansion of international trade and the dynamism of the geography of foreign trade operations are pushing for the transformation of the transport and logistics system of foreign economic activity. The current stage of development of the world economy highlights the country's transport and logistics system as a key factor of competition in world markets, which entails a confrontation between national states for the formation/participation, for example, of transit routes for the movement of goods. In these conditions, the objects of transport and logistics infrastructure, the degree of their development, and the dynamics of investment are of exceptional importance.
In this area, Russia lags behind the advanced economically developed and developing countries, and the volume of investment is significantly lower than many economies in the world. In this regard, there is an opinion in the scientific community that the logistics of foreign trade in Russia without forced growth can become a deterrent to the development of the country's export potential.
As a result of the study, it was identified as relatively insufficient (in accordance with international standards) the cost of logistics infrastructure facilities, as well as a limited amount of investment, which is a key factor constraining the development of the industry. In addition to the above, there is a shortage of competent personnel in this area, and it is also necessary to improve the system of training of relevant employees.
As a result, as of 2018, Russia ranked only 75th (out of 160 countries) in the world in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) rating, which, despite the dynamics, is extremely low for a state with wide export and transit opportunities.
In the second part of the paper, the main ways of developing Russia's export potential through improving transport and logistics activities are formulated. Among all areas, special attention should be paid to the processes of investing in the creation or modernization of logistics infrastructure facilities through the formation of a financing system based on public-private partnership mechanisms. In this aspect, it is extremely important to develop both the state mechanism of digital traceability of the movement of goods in the transport chains, and private ones. At the same time, from the position of the state, efforts should be directed to the transformation of the business environment in the vector of barrier-free conditions.