Road Map of Special Programme for the countries of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan presents interest for TRACECA

On 1-2 December 2010, in Baku there was held the International Conference of the Ministers of Economy of the member-states of the UN special programme SPECA.

The Conference was organized by the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UN Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE), International Trade Centre (ITC), and International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).

The Conference was attended by the representatives of the Ministries of Economy of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the   international organizations such as UNDP, UNIDO, UN ECE, OECD.

SPECA is the Special Programme for the countries of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, supported by the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is designed to assist in the development of trade cooperation among member countries of SPECA and integration into international trade.

SPECA authorized representative to South Caucasus, Perti Salo mentioned that it is important for SPECA countries to develop the potential and opportunities to gain an advantage in trade, as well as building basic infrastructure - roads, communications, electricity system.

The Conference adopted a roadmap for the transition to electronic commerce. This document present special interest for TRACECA, as it covers the development of electronic customs declaration as well, supporting our objectives of reducing delays at the border.