Georgia became the Chairman Party of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA.

It is noteworthy that during the Sixteenth Annual Meeting, the procedure of transferring the mandate of the Chairmanship of the IGC TRACECA from the Republic of Bulgaria to Georgia took place by transferring the TRACECA Book containing the main document - MLA, and the IGC Chairman was the first to write down their wishes to the next Chairmen.

The Sixteenth (Anniversary) Meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission was opened by Mr. L. Davitashvili, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

“This event is notable for being held in-person format over the past 3 years. I am convinced that the discussions of the Meeting will allow participants to analyze the practical development of the TRACECA corridor.”. During the speech, Mr. L. Davitashvili also expressed condolences to the Turkish delegation, wished a speedy recovery to all injured from the earthquake disaster in Türkiye and called for a minute of silence to honor the memory of victims.

Official delegations of the TRACECA MLA Parties, Permanent Representatives (National Secretaries), Permanent Secretariat (PS) of the IGC TRACECA, representatives of the European Commission, observers in the Intergovernmental Commission - the Republic of Lithuania and Greece, representatives of Turkmenistan as a participant in the TRACECA programme, representatives of international organizations, TRACECA partners, as well as high-level guests were among those invited to the Anniversary Meeting of the IGC.

The agenda of the Meeting included priority issues related to the development of multimodal transport, maritime transport, facilitation of border crossing procedures, institutional issues, as well as other issues aimed at further development of the TRACECA corridor.

A documentary film about TRACECA’s activities, initiatives and cooperation with international organizations, prepared by the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission, was shown to the participants of the Meeting.

The IGC TRACECA heard the Report and positively assessed the work done by MLA Parties of Action Plan for 2018-2021 on implementation of the Strategy of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA for development of the International Transport Corridor “Europe-Caucasus-Asia” for 2016-2026 done by the MLA Parties, results of the TRACECA Permit System for international road transport in 2021, unanimously agreed on the intention of the Republic of Kazakhstan to accede to it and called the MLA Parties to join the TRACECA Permit System.

Among the approved TRACECA documents: Border Crossing Hotline Concept, Methodology of evaluating road checkpoints in the new edition and for generating statistical data along the routes of the TRACECA corridor, Review "Multimodal Transport Legal Framework", which are designed to facilitate border crossing procedures and increase the efficiency of calculating the volume of goods along the TRACECA corridor should be particularly highlighted. Moreover, establishment of Working Group on Digitalization of the TRACECA corridor was approved.

TRACECA Countries discussed the Vessel Concept for cargo transportation on the Caspian Sea, establishment of the TRACECA Fund and TRACECA Business Council, Agreement on visa-free travel of professional drivers along the TRACECA corridor and recommended that the interested MLA Parties continue work on improving the documents.


The Anniversary Meeting also focused on welcoming Turkmenistan’s intention to join MLA TRACECA by the participants of the Meeting.

Following the Sixteenth Annual Meeting, the Intergovernmental Commission of TRACECA elected Mr. Asset Assavbayev, a representative from the Republic of Kazakhstan, as the Secretary General of the PS IGC TRACECA.

Based on the results of the Meeting, the Final Resolutions were signed.

Official photos are available for download at the following link:

https://mab.to/t/ZXdIJRMLdZk

For reference:

• 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 its Permanent Representations in each of the states-participants of the MLA TRACECA.
• TRACECA includes the transport system of 13 member states united by the idea of developing the international transport corridor Europe-the Caucasus-Asia. The Republic of Lithuania and Greece received the observer status in the IGC TRACECA in 2009 and in 2018, correspondingly.
• 16th Annual Meeting of IGC was Anniversary on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the TRACECA programme and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the "Basic Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for Development of the Europe-the Caucasus-Asia Corridor" (MLA).