On June 6-7, 2023, the Second Meeting of the ECO\UNECE Coordination Committee on the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul Corridors took place

The discussion of the draft work programme of the Coordination Committee and the adoption of a two-year programme for 2023-2025 was of particular importance on the Agenda.

The UN and ECO are actively working to develop transport cooperation in the region, which plays a significant role in ensuring the connectivity of the countries of Europe and Asia. In this context, the deepening and development of transport routes has been and remains an important issue and requires the adoption of joint internationally coordinated decisions.

"These decisions are confirmed both by the activities of the Coordination Committee on the Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul Corridors, and the implementation of the TRACECA programme, which marked its 30 years this year," said Assavbayev A.A., Secretary General of the PS IGC TRACECA during his speech. In addition, A. Assavbayev pointed out the work aimed at implementing TRACECA initiatives, including digitalization and containerization of transportation, development of multimodal and improving the efficiency of maritime transport.   

The participants were also informed about the current pilot cargo transportation by semi-trailers on the multimodal route of the European Union- Black Sea-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Caspian Sea-Central Asian countries, the results of which will be presented within a study tour on June 12-16, 2023.

During the two-day meeting, there was also an exchange of views between the Secretary General Assavbayev A.A. and National Secretary of TRACECA in Türkiye, Burak Aykan on the status of implementation of initiatives in the country and issues of improving the efficiency of shipping lines on the TRACECA corridor route.


For reference:


•    The Trans-Caspian and Almaty-Istanbul corridors connect Europe and East Asia and have a high potential for container transport. In this regard, the meeting was attended by high-ranking heads of transport companies and customs authorities from the countries of both corridors, and the expected outcome of its work was to agree on a priority list of actions to be taken regarding the regulation of existing tariffs, services and traffic schedules, as well as an already drafted list of physical/non-physical problems and bottlenecks.

•    On May 16-24, 2022, the first study tour was organized with the support of TRACECA to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan in order to monitor delivery times, discuss existing issues and raise awareness for representatives of Central Asian countries, where representatives of state bodies and organizations of Bulgaria and Türkiye also participated.