The delegation of Turkmenistan headed by the Director General of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers Mammethan Chakiyev took part in the high-level conference for SPECA countries, which was held in Baku on Monday, October 31.

The forum was dedicated to the topic - "Digital transformation of information exchange in supply chains using UN standards" under the UN Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA).

The Director General of the Agency of Transport and Communications of Turkmenistan in his speech noted that Turkmenistan shares SPECA's vision of developing the regional market and cross-border supply chains, improving the connectivity of Central Asian economies with Europe and Asia.

He particularly noted that in November 2019, the 14th session of the SPECA Governing Council was held in Ashgabat, within the framework of which the "Ashgabat Initiative to Reduce Barriers to Trade and Transport through the use of UN tools, norms, standards and recommendations with simultaneous strengthening of interconnectedness in the SPECA region" was adopted.

Mammetkhan Chakiyev informed his colleagues that the digitalization model of the transport and communication sector of Turkmenistan combines logistics, trade and technology as a single platform. In this approach, segments are formed: "single window", digital retail networks, tracking and online payments, analytics, digital services and hosting services.

Thus, together with UNDP in Turkmenistan and UNCTAD, a "single window" project for import and export operations has already been launched, which implies the integration of digital customs services with the work of various authorities issuing permits and licenses for the import and export of goods.

The national system of electronic transport documents is actively developing in order to simplify the procedures for deliveries by rail, air, water and road transport, starting from the application mechanism, tracking cargo flows, paying for transportation by customers, to analyzing cargo flows and evaluating the efficiency of transportation.

This system is consistently integrated with international waybill platforms such as CIM-SMGS, TIR-EPD and e-SMR.

The Memoranda signed by Turkmenistan with all neighboring states on the exchange of customs data and the technical conditions already agreed with Iran and Uzbekistan on the exchange of such data, and later with Azerbaijan, will make it possible to increase the potential in the formation of a regional information exchange system, and eventually - cross-border paperless trade.

Digital retail networks are also developing rapidly in the country, new online stores and marketplaces are appearing. The number of such resources registered only in the National Domain Center reaches 240. The “Turkmenpochta” Post-Shop marketplace has been launched in test mode, which in the future is planned to be connected to global marketplaces with the expansion of its functionality with services such as order tracking, cargo storage, organization of cargo transportation, including in containers.

The event in Baku was also attended by senior officials of relevant structures of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe Olga Algaerova, heads and representatives of other international institutions. The speakers noted the importance of the topics of the current conference and talked about current joint projects.

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