On 14 May 2026, the Meeting of the Permanent Secretariat of the IGC TRACECA was held in Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan

The Meeting was attended by Permanent Representatives (National Secretaries), experts from the MLA Parties and staff members of the Permanent Secretariat.

The Agenda of the Permanent Secretariat Meeting included the items related to the preparation of documents for the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the IGC TRACECA.

In particular, the Meeting participants discussed the draft Strategy of the IGC TRACECA for development of the international transport corridor Europe-the Caucasus-Asia for 2027–2036 and the draft Action Plan for 2027–2030 for its implementation. Based on the outcomes of the discussions, the Parties agreed to continue work on the draft Strategy and the finalization of the Action Plan by the end of 2026.

Within the framework of the discussion on the issue of establishing the TRACECA Business Council, the Parties agreed to continue work on this matter, taking into account its relevance for the development of interaction between government bodies and representatives of the business community of the TRACECA participating countries, as well as the need for further elaboration of the mechanisms for the functioning of the Council.

In addition, the Agenda covered issues of monitoring the implementation of IGC decisions by the MLA Parties and the status of accession to TRACECA international agreements, joint border crossing points, transport statistics from international organizations related to TRACECA corridor.

One of the outcomes of the lengthy discussions was the unanimous approval of the TRACECA Reform Concept, aimed at improving the activities of TRACECA, enhancing the effectiveness of interaction among the participating countries, and further strengthening its role as an international platform for the development of transport cooperation.

Particular attention was paid to the issues of digitalization of the TRACECA corridor, including the legal status of digital transport documents in the Middle Corridor, the draft Agreement on the application of electronic documents on the ITC TRACECA, as well as the work carried out on the e-CIM/SMGS consignment note pilot project.

Along with that, the MLA Parties considered and adopted the Agenda items on the financing of the PS IGC TRACECA, including the financial report on budget execution for 2025, the report of the Auditing Team, the draft PS IGC TRACECA budget for 2027, the composition of the Auditing Team and the determination of the amount of annual contributions of the MLA Parties for 2027 and 2028.

The TRACECA member countries welcomed the readiness of the Kyrgyz Republic to accede to the TRACECA Multilateral Permits System, as well as the readiness of the Parties to sign the Agreement on Single Transit Permit of TRACECA, noting the importance of these initiatives for the further improvement of international road transportation and the development of the transit potential of the TRACECA corridor.

Based on the outcomes of the Permanent Secretariat Meeting, the final package of documents was considered and approved for its further submission and adoption at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the IGC TRACECA.