On November 26-28, 2024, Mr. Asset Assavbayev, the Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA (the PS IGC TRACECA) paid an official visit to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Mr. A. Assavbayev, the TRACECA Secretary General arrived to Turkmenbashi International Sea Port by ferry in order to get acquainted with functioning of this connection, including the travel time and procedures, facilities and infrastructure of the port, as well as the shipbuilding yard.

During the meeting with Mr. Batyr Annayev, Chairman of the “Türkmendeňizderýaýollary” Agency, Mr. Assavbayev was informed about the logistic and customs facilities of the port, including cargo, container terminals, ferry and passenger berths. Moreover, the possibilities of implementation of advanced technologies that ensure the integration of Turkmenistan into modern transport standards of cargo and passenger transportation were touched upon.

Within exchange of opinions with Mr. Mammetkhan Chakiyev, Director General of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, the Secretary General highlighted the importance of Turkmenistan’s active participation in TRACECA, as well as providing an official position of the country on acceding to legal and strategic documents. Attracting transit cargos to the region, including from China via Turkmenistan and considering the capabilities of the ports, as well as the development of the ferry transport became the subjects of lively discussions.

One of the priorities of this visit was also the participation of the Secretary General at the events:

- on November 26, 2024, in the International Conference and Exhibition "International Transport and Transit Corridors: Interconnection and Development - 2024";

- on November 27, 2024, at the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport,

dedicated to the important role of safe, accessible, affordable and sustainable transport in promoting economic growth in the region.

During the opening ceremony of the Conference “International Transport and Transit Corridors: Interconnection and Development – ​​2024”, Mr A. Assavbayev drew special attention to the development of sustainable transport corridors. The Secretary General emphasized the necessity to improve the state of infrastructure, integrate multimodal transport systems and harmonize legal norms, standards and requirements as the main tasks on the way to achieving this goal. “The current “bottlenecks” caused by the growing demand for certain routes affect not only the efficiency and time of transportation. The latest TRACECA study, conducted jointly with IRU, also shows that there are still trends of congestion of vehicles at borders, which carriers sometimes estimate within 2-3 weeks. It is important to coordinate efforts to modernize existing transport arteries, including roads, railways and ports, based on existing and potential transport volumes.”

“The Permanent Secretariat has initiated the development of the Action Plan to improve connectivity in the Caspian Sea, which ensures coordinated activities between Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This document contains measures aimed at the efficient use of port facilities and ferry services,” the Secretary General added.

During the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, Mr. A. Assavbayev informed the participants of the meeting about the current projects and initiatives of TRACECA aimed at strengthening the links between all modes of transport to achieve sustainable development goals, including the work carried out by TRACECA on digitalization, increasing the efficiency of logistics chains, promoting low-cost transport systems and other issues. "As another step, which is consistent with the provisions of the Resolution, we have been actively working to facilitate the implementation of UN conventions and the harmonization of rules and procedures. Within the framework of cooperation with IRU, pilot transportations similar to eTIR were carried out and almost 80% of TRACECA countries have acceded to the Additional Protocol to the CMR on the application of the electronic CMR consignment note.

"In addition, work on evaluation and monitoring the time and cost of transportation on individual routes of the corridor continues," emphasized Mr. A. Assavbayev.

Related news:

• “TRACECA highly appreciates Turkmenistan's efforts in ensuring active development along the international transport corridor Europe-the Caucasus-Asia”

For reference:

• Events held on November 26-27 provided a platform for a forward-looking exchange of views on global transport corridors, logistics development and international trade between leading representatives of the transport sector of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Romania, Uzbekistan and other countries, heads of international transport organizations, including TRACECA, IRU, OSJD, OTIF, etc.
  https://www.ittc-turkmenistan.com/en
  
  
• The Turkmenbashi Port is one of the important transit hubs of the international transport corridor (ITC) Europe-the Caucasus-Asia in the Caspian region
  
  
• On November 14, 2023, Turkmenistan officially joined TRACECA, becoming a full member of the Basic Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for Development of the Europe- the Caucasus-Asia Corridor” (TRACECA).