TRACECA participated in the International Winter Academy “Sustainable Transport and Trade” in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova ACECA participated in the International Winter Academy “Sustainable Transport and Trade” in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

This event was organized by the “Strengthening Sustainable and Digital Trade Routes and Logistics Concepts between Eastern Partnership Countries and with the EU” (EasTnT) project. The EasTnT (“Eastern Partnership for Trade and Transport”) project is funded by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The EasTnT project aims to strengthen collaboration among the key stakeholders involved in trade routes and logistics strategies within the Eastern Partnership countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

Enhanced cooperation among these entities is essential to foster greater convergence across the EaP countries, ensuring the efficient processing of goods at borders, improving domestic logistics networks, and leveraging the potential of digital trade. To achieve these objectives, the countries must align their technical solutions, build capacity in transport and logistics, and enhance collaboration between customs authorities and relevant ministries.

During the four-day conference featured dynamic overview of presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and roundtables focused on advancements in digitalization and green initiatives within сustoms operations, innovation within freight transport associations, and developments in the maritime sector.

The first two days of the event have been supported by Transport Innovation Association (TIA) of Lithuania. TIA experts provided an overview of the activities that have been scheduled for 2025 related to strengthening sustainable and digital trade routes and logistics concepts for the EaP countries. Key EU regulation towards digitalization of transport and logistics has been presented, highlighting the requirements and solutions for digital data exchange and digitalization of Customs.

The third day of the event was co-organised by the Permanent Secretariat of the Transport Community, with high-level discussions on port decarbonisation, maritime digitalisation, and multimodal transport, with contributions from leading ports, freight operators, and logistics experts across Europe.

The fourth day featured presentation on Green Customs, cross-border railway transport along Middle Corridor, eCMR solution in Ukraine and digitalization efforts within the framework of TRACECA.

The representative of the PS IGC TRACECA provided an overview of the Digital Concept of the ITC TRACECA and approaches on digitalization along TRACECA corridor. Specific projects and initiatives towards digitalization have been noted including digitalization of road transport permits, initiatives for introduction of eCMR, the joint pilot project for use of e-CIM/SMGS railway consignment note as well as workshops on customs issues that include topics on digitalization of customs. The need for a new general framework to facilitate digitalization and implementation of various electronic transport documents was noted as well as the PS IGC TRACECA work on a draft Agreement on digitalization of transport along the ITC TRACECA that may provide a framework for harmonization of a customs led exchange of data and documents in electronic form.

Throughout the International Winter Academy, participants have gained valuable insights into the ongoing digitalization efforts in customs operations, policy frameworks, and the technological innovations propelling the digital transformation of the trade and transport sectors.