TRACECA and BSEC: regional cooperation and strengthening of linkages are a significant mechanism for digitalization of transport processes

The responsible representatives of the BSEC member states, representatives of related organizations and international structures, including the PS IGC TRACECA was attended the Meeting.

The Meeting was chaired by H. E. Mr. Lucian Nicolae Bode, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications of Romania.

The Meeting discussed issues such as the state and prospects for the development of the transport network of the Black Sea region as part of the European transport system in the modern world, measures aimed at facilitating road transport in the region in the context of the pandemic, the development and implementation of electronic permits, as well as new opportunities for improving transport links, including the digitalization of transport in the BSEC region through the launch of the    e-CMR pilot project.

In his speech, Mr. Assavbayev highlighted the efforts made and the ongoing work of the PS IGC TRACECA under the Agenda items considered.

In particular, the Harmonized Conditions for the Transport of Goods under the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic developed on the basis of best practices, are intended to ensure a harmonized approach in the measures taken by countries to avoid delays and congestion of vehicles at borders. In this direction, it is feasible to coordinate the work of the Permanent Secretariat of the IGC TRACECA with the BSEC, considering the 8 common member countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine).

"Without digital routes or corridors, the measures taken by individual countries will not have much effect," said the TRACECA Secretary General. In this direction, active measures are being taken to implement eTIR and eCMR in the corridor’s countries as soon as possible. 3 TRACECA member countries (Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey) were the first in pilot and contributed to the application of e-TIR in 2021.

Concerning the digitalization, the Permanent Secretariat of TRACECA has also been working since the beginning of the year on the implementation of electronic transit permits among interested countries participating in the corridor within the framework of the draft Agreement on a Single Transit Permit of TRACECA.

Similar work is being carried out on the TRACECA multilateral permits, which have been applied in paper format for the past 5 years.

It should be noted that the Memorandum of Understanding between the PS IGC TRACECA and the PERMIS (PERMIS – Permanent International Secretariat of BSEC) was signed on December 13, 2007 in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan.