MOSCOW  — Russia's biggest transportation challenge is building a safe road network, the U.S. transportation secretary said Friday, urging Russia to direct more funds toward that goal.

DOT Secretary Raymond H. LaHood was among those attending an international meeting of transportation ministers on road safety. The conference in Moscow is calling on world leaders to treat road accidents — which claim 1.3 million lives annually — like a killer disease and find the necessary funds toward combating the problem.

"We've made huge investments in our country in roads and to make sure that they are safe, and developing different systems that make them safe — I think those are big challenges for the Russian government," LaHood told The Associated Press after meeting local business leaders.

Russia has about 30,000 road deaths annually. The U.S. averages 10,000 deaths more each year, but has over six times the number of registered vehicles, according to World Health Organization statistics.

Poor roads, drunk driving and a lack of basic precautions such as using safety belts contribute to Russia's problems.

LaHood also pressed the need to tackle driving distractions in bringing accident figures down at a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Igor Levitin.

"I thought it was important to get this issue out there because there hasn't much discussion about it," he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that road accidents cost the world economy around $500 billion annually and called for better laws and more stringent enforcement.

LaHood declined comment on corruption among Russia's traffic police — which is thought to exacerbate lawlessness on the country's highways.

LaHood, who was to meet Medvedev later Friday, praised what he called a new openness in Russia, saying without it the ministerial summit on safety wouldn't have happened.

"Five years ago, I'm sure the president of Russia would not be talking about highway safety," he said.