📋 Tender Overview
An international seminar was held in Tashkent on November 26-27 2019 on the topic New technologies for the development of transit traffic in developing and landlocked countries of Central Asia.The event was co-organized by the SCO Secretariat UNESCAP and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan.The seminar was attended by about 30 participants experts from the ministries of transport and customs departments of the SCO member states representatives of associations of carriers and forwarding organizations as well as commercial road transport companies.The event was organized in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the secretariats of the SCO and UNESCAP from 2015 in order to increase the knowledge and skills of employees of relevant departments of the SCO countries in using new technologies to facilitate transit traffic.The participants also held a constructive dialogue on the state of affairs current problems and prospects for the development of international transport in Central Asian countries.At the beginning of the seminar a representative of the SCO Secretariat announced a welcome message from the SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov to the participants of the event.The message of the SCO Secretary General noted that the SCO attaches particular importance to multilateral cooperation in the field of transport and communications the development of transport infrastructure and the implementation of joint projects in the region. For these purposes the SCO Development Strategy until 2025 as well as the Bishkek and Qingdao declarations of the SCO summits of the last two years emphasized the importance of further deepening cooperation in the transport sector including the modernization of existing and creation of new transport corridors the construction of multi-modal logistics centers and the formation of a network industrial clusters along transport arteries.V. Norov emphasized that a wider use of available transport opportunities is also provided for in signed documents following the Tashkent meeting of the SCO CST 2019 namely in the new SCO multilateral trade and economic cooperation program for the SCO member states the Concept of interaction between the railway administrations of the SCO countries the Memorandum between the customs services of the Member States of the Organization on the mutual integration of national transit systems as well as the decision to prepare intergovernmental of SCO framework agreement on the formation of an integrated management system transportation.The SCO Secretary General pointed out the important geostrategic position of Central Asia which connects the largest international markets which also determines the joint efforts of the countries of the region in order to accelerate integration into the system of international transport corridors.According to the message raising to a qualitatively new level of development of transport links between regional partners is possible when implementing previously reached agreements in the field of transport and solving a number of common tasks for the SCO countries in this direction. First of all this is the development of the infrastructure of logistics centers connecting various types of transport the modernization of existing networks and transport facilities the acceleration of harmonization and unification of standards in the field of transport as well as phytosanitary rules.V. Norov noted that the SCO and some member states have extensive experience in the development of transport networks and the creation of multi-modal logistics facilities. In this context he put forward an initiative to develop a Cooperation Program between the SCO member states in the development of multimodal transport and logistics centers which would contribute to the development of infrastructure of logistics facilities accelerate the harmonization and harmonization of transport standards as well as phytosanitary rules.The expansion of cooperation with UNESCAP especially in the areas of transport energy and trade as indicated in the greeting message of the SCO Secretary-General is a priority in the international activities of the SCO. This was also noted by the prime ministers of the Organization at a recent meeting of the SCO CST in Tashkent.The SCO Secretary General highly appreciated the current interaction with UNESCAP and expressed hope that this organization which has extensive experience in planning and implementing the transport interconnection policy in the Asia-Pacific region will assist the SCO in developing this program.UNESCAP experts made presentations on the existing world practice of facilitating transit freight transport by road and rail and the modern technologies introduced in this field in the EU ASEAN and South America. They also familiarized participants with the practice of using satellite and GSM vehicle tracking systems equipping containers with electronic seals paperless information exchange between departments of border countries and the concept of a digital cargo platform which are aimed at eliminating barriers and improving administrative procedures for the suppression of goods across state borders.The seminar clearly revealed the growing interest in the SCO member states in the need to deepen and comprehensively develop multilateral cooperation in the fields of transport and communications including the use of modern methods and technologies to facilitate the transportation of goods.As a result of the seminar the participants made recommendations and spoke out for the regularity of such events which are a good platform for getting acquainted with current trends in the development of transit transportation a detailed discussion of pressing issues in this area and putting forward new ideas aimed at increasing transport potential in the SCO space.
