Final Workshop on Facilitation of Regional Transit Trade in CAREC

Asian Development Bank and the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan organized a validation workshop to endorse the proposed CAREC Regional Transit Guarantee Mechanism (CGM) and discuss implementation arrangements to pilot test the mechanism along CAREC sub-corridor 2a from Georgia through Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan. Customs officials and private sector representatives from insurance, carriers, and freight forwarding companies attended the final workshop.

The workshop presented the final findings of and solicited remarks on the four reports under Technical Assistance (TA) 8586: Facilitation of Regional Transit Trade in CAREC. The four reports are (i) Transit Flows, (ii) Proposed Regional Transit Guarantee Mechanism, (iii) Legal and Regulatory Framework, and (iv) Information and Communication Technology System for Transit Regime. To set out the development of the pilot scheme, the TA team led discussions on institutional and management issues, customs collaboration, legal and regulatory issues, and elements of the ICT system.

TA 8586 was developed in response to requests from CAREC governments. Transit remains an outstanding issue under the CAREC Strategy 2020, and the proposed CGM will provide a flexible multimodal solution that is aligned with international best practices. The initiative will modernize transit operations and will act as a catalyst for speeding up the movement of goods across the region and will enhance supply chain security. It will help improve business-government cooperation and the adoption of harmonized trade and customs procedures across the region.

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