TRACECA participated at the Third Ministerial Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration in Asia and the Pacific

Jointly organized by UN ESCAP and ADB, the Conference brought together Ministers and high-level officials to discuss enhancing regional and subregional cooperation for solutions to connectivity, climate and digitalization challenges, made more severe by the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises.

Special focus at this forum was given to exchange of opinions on building and strengthening resilience through trade and investment for sustainable development in times of crisis, regional economic cooperation and integration.
 
The participants discussed mobilizing regional cooperative mechanisms in energy, digital and transport connectivity, including Regional Road Map on Power System Connectivity, the 2022 – 2026 Action Plan of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway and the 2022 – 2026 Regional Action Programme for Sustainable Transport Development in Asia and the Pacific.

Within its Statement, representatives of TRACECA Permanent Secretariat mentioned that TRACECA offers important alternative for Euro-Asian transport links.
 
For seamless transport connectivity along TRACECA routes it is of outmost importance to increase the border crossing efficiency and enable favorable conditions for multimodal transport.
 
Among a wide range of supporting activities undertaken on TRACECA level, the latest activities related to digitalization in transport and Customs have been noted. For example, use of e-CIM/SMGS railway consignment note and digitalization of Customs transit.
 
TRACECA expressed its readiness to continue and further strengthen cooperation with UN ESCAP and other partners for the initiatives that could coexist and complement each other.