On February 26, 2020, Mr. Asset Assavbayev, Secretary General of TRACECA, met with Mr. Zurab Pataradze, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia

Mr. Assavbayev shared his impressions of the positive economic trends taking place in Georgia, as well as the indicators observed in the transport sector. In particular, it was a question of enhancing the indicators of container carriage. The increase of the amount of containers transported by rail compared with 2018 was 39 percent.

Mr. Pataradze and Mr. Assavbayev exchanged views on various issues of utmost importance for the TRACECA region as a whole.

As part of the discussion of the Plan of Events of the IGC TRACECA for the first half of 2020 and the programme of action, participants of the meeting noted the necessity to develop a clear vision on the proposed topic of new technical assistance projects (TA).

TA projects should determine their economic efficiency and financial viability, promote the involvement of the private sector in the creation and operation of the latest transport and technology network aimed at developing a specific sector (roads, ports, railways, logistics centres) and improving the economic well-being of the whole Europe-the Caucasus-Asia region.

At the same time, Mr. Pataradze mentioned the necessity to strengthen coordination of projects implemented in the countries for the development of transport infrastructure. 

The issues of digitalization of the TRACECA corridor, transport security, improvement of border-crossing procedures, optimization of logistics centres and ports, as well as application of an integrated management system of border-crossing procedures in railway transport were discussed at the meeting.

On the outcomes of the meeting, Ambassador Pataradze assured the Secretary General of his support at the bilateral and multilateral levels within the framework of the TRACECA activities.