15th Annual Meeting (Ministerial Conference) of the IGC TRACECA

The Republic of Bulgaria is the next Chairman country in the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA

On October 21, 2021, the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) TRACECA will be held in Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria via videoconferencing, during which the Republic of Bulgaria will assume the Chairmanship of the IGC TRACECA from the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Meeting will be attended by official representatives of the Governments of the Parties to the Basic Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for Development of the Europe-the Caucasus-Asia Corridor (MLA), Permanent Representatives (National Secretaries) of the Permanent Secretariat (PS) of the IGC TRACECA in the MLA member-states, observers in the Intergovernmental Commission - the Republic of Lithuania and the Hellenic Republic, representatives of Turkmenistan as a participant of the TRACECA programme, representatives of international organizations and TRACECA partners.  

Within the Agenda of the Meeting, it is planned to discuss issues related to the digitalization of transport documents, development of multimodal transport, as well as simplification of border crossing procedures, including through the introduction of electronic queues at checkpoints.

Particularly, among the discussed draft documents of the IGC on the development of the international transport corridor are the Harmonized Conditions for the Transport of Goods under the spread of the coronavirus infection pandemic (COVID-19), Agreement on a Single Transit Permit of TRACECA, Concept for the Development of Container Transport up to 2030, Methodology for Identification of the Routes of the International Transport Corridor TRACECA, Methodology of evaluating Check Points, Review of harmonization and simplification of border crossing procedures between the MLA member-states, Digital Сoncept of the International Transport Corridor TRACECA.

The member-states of the meeting will consider the results of the TRACECA permit system for international road transport in 2020 and making amendments to the Technical Document "TRACECA Multilateral Permit" User Guide, the progress of the implementation by the MLA Parties of the priority actions for implementation of the TRACECA Regional Action Strategy on Maritime Safety and Environmental Protection for the period up to 2021, Action Plan for 2022-2026 for implementation of the Strategy of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA for Development of International Transport Corridor Europe-the Caucasus-Asia for 2016-2026.

The Agenda of the IGC Meeting also includes discussions on the drafts of the Memorandum of Understanding between the PS and the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, as well as a Memorandum of Cooperation between the PS and the Association of Legal Entities "International Association "Trans-Caspian International Transport Route" (ALE"IA"TITR").

During the discussions, the IGC Meeting plans to approve documents that should strengthen financial discipline and issues of institutional importance, including Rules for Formation and Execution of the Budget of the PS IGC TRACECA, Rules of Procedure of the IGC, Statute of the PS, etc.  

On the outcomes of the IGC, it is planned to adopt the final documents - the Sofia Declaration and the Final Resolutions of the IGC Meeting.

It should be noted that the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) operates in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. The decisions and recommendations adopted by the IGC determine the activities of the Permanent Secretariat of the IGC TRACECA, located in Baku. The Permanent Secretariat has the Permanent Representations in each of the MLA TRACECA member-states.

For reference: TRACECA includes the transport system of 13 member-states united by the idea of developing the international transport corridor Europe-the Caucasus-Asia. In addition, Lithuania in 2009 and Greece in 2018 received the observer status in the IGC TRACECA.

It should be noted that the Republic of Azerbaijan has been holding the Chairmanship in the IGC TRACECA since December 6, 2019.