Conference dedicated to discussing the issues on the Black and Caspian Sea Ports and Shipping is relevant for the TRACECA region

Within two-day Conference programme, 25 speakers from well-known transport and logistics companies with the participation of port representatives along with the region's leading shippers, cargo owners, importers/exporters, shipping lines, freight forwarders, terminal operating companies, railway operators, port equipment and services suppliers from countries throughout the Black and Caspian Sea corridor attended the event.

Strengthening the economic sustainability and transport security, as well as adaptability, railway transit and freight potential through Europe and the Black-Caspian Sea region, potential investments and infrastructure projects for EU-Asia cooperation are among the priority topics on the Agenda of the entire Forum.

The discussions of the speakers and participants covered such topics as containerization, logistics processes and sea routes in the Black-Caspian Sea region, development of digitalization and technologies for rail and marine infrastructure.

During the discussions, Mr. Asset Assavbayev, Secretary General of the PS IGC TRACECA elaborated on the role of the international transport corridor TRACECA in the development of trade demand.

"We are actively working on eliminating institutional and legal barriers for transport and international trade, developing railway and road sectors, rail and ferry services and sea routes, air transportation, logistics and multimodal transportation," –Mr.A.A. Assavbayev pointed out.

The programme of the visit also included discussions on promising areas of activity and status of implementation of priority TRACECA initiatives during a meeting with Mr. Levan Davitashvili, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia and other persons responsible for the formation of transport policy, implementation of projects and promotion of initiatives in the region.

The main focus was on the issues of simplification of border crossing procedures, possibility of mutual recognition of the customs control results at the borders, prospects for the recognition of electronic signatures between competent bodies, сoordination of the Agreement on a Single Transit Permit and implementation of the Digital Concept of TRACECA. The exchange of views also took place on joining the Agreement on Development of Multimodal Transport TRACECA, piloting digital solutions, including eTIR, eCMR, GTrD, e-queue and other topics.