Around 120 representatives of the ministries of transport, authorities and international organisations met at the middle of the year in Batumi to discuss about necessary measures aimed at facilitating trade and especially transport in South Caucasus countries. A Declaration was signed to facilitate transport on the Caucasus Transit Corridor (CTC). Regarding railway transport, the participants to the reunion in Georgia agreed that it was necessary to harmonise and standardise railway legislation in the countries which pertain to the Caucasus Transit Corridor (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia). On the long run, companies providing railway services in the region were invited to participate in the development of a single railway structure in the Eurasian Platform.
Regional trade flows, as well as the global one from Asia to Europe, including through the Caucasus Transit Corridor, are an important development engine in the basins of the Black Sea and of the Caspian Sea, as well as in the South Caucasus region.
Through the Batumi Declaration, the parties involved in the transport process agreed to adopt measures to improve the competitiveness of the transit corridors which cross the Caucasus region, including through methods for raising the awareness of the private sector on the new existing transport services, but also on the infrastructure development projects in the region that are currently implemented or in plan. Projects refer mainly to the development of new railway lines and port infrastructures.
Participants to the reunion have asked the government of the countries directly involved, but also neighbouring countries to consider the implementation of new measures in areas such as the simplification of customs procedures in common frontier points and the harmonisation of railway norms. Here we are talking about three different international legislation systems that need simplification, the European Directives and Regulations used by member states, the international legislation in conformity with OTIF provisions, used by 49 countries, but also the SMGS Convention for freight traffic which is compliant with the provisions of the Organisation for Co-operation on railways (OSJD). It was also underlined the importance of facilitating trade on the Caucasus Transit Corridor.
The countries of the region may consider ways of developing further the Viking corridor towards the South Caucasus, by simplifying, harmonizing and automating corridor-based document and data flows, as well as harmonizing and developing further the supporting legal regime. Countries should also promote the further development of corridors among Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova (GUAM), the Europe-Caucasus-Asia Transport Corridor (TRACECA), the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and Silk Wind projects, notably through the harmonization of trade and transport document exchange.
Moreover, the participants to the Batumi reunion said they were supporting the introduction of a single transport paper. The parties and the supporting organisation could evaluate the possibility of launching a pilot project through which, on the corridors between these countries, data could be sent by using a single transport document, especially for maritime and railway transport. For example, the CIM/SMGS consignment note could be used for the freight coming from Afghanistan to Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Basin, South Caucasus, the Black Sea, Ukraine, EU member states or Turkey.
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