The heads of the customs departments of the region agreed on the introduction of a common transit portal
A multilateral meeting of the heads of customs services of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Turkey was held in Baku on Wednesday. The subject of the meeting was a project to simplify the transit customs procedure on the principle of "one window" on the Trans-Caspian International Middle Corridor East-West, which was discussed yesterday by specialists of the departments of the participating countries.
The meeting was also attended by Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Kunio Mikuria, Deputy Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States Mirvohid Azimov, representatives of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and other international organizations.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the event, Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Shahin Bagirov spoke about the importance of increasing the attractiveness of the Middle Corridor and highly appreciated the efforts of the countries of the region towards simplifying customs transit. He stressed that in the near future new opportunities will open up for further simplification of transit operations and their implementation on a digital basis.
Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization, said that the project is important in terms of enhancing regional development and prosperity, strengthening cooperation and ensuring the continuity of the trade and supply chain.
It was noted at the meeting that the measures taken within the framework of multilateral platforms created by the heads of State to strengthen cooperation between the countries of the Middle Corridor have already begun to bear fruit.
According to Asset Asavbayev, Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission, consistent steps to simplify transit customs procedures are important in terms of accelerating international trade, facilitating border crossing processes, as well as attracting investment and expanding economic opportunities for the countries of the region.
A video message by Olga Algaerova, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, was shown at the meeting.
During the meeting, a presentation of the Trans-Caspian Transit Portal developed by experts of the Customs Service of Azerbaijan was held, and it was concluded that this application will allow moving goods and vehicles along the corridor on the basis of a single declaration, exchanging information in electronic form, as well as using a previously submitted transit customs declaration as a transit document. The portal is also important from the point of view of improving the efficiency of customs services, making decisions on the application of customs control forms based on risk analysis, and sharing the results of customs control.
In addition, presentations on international mechanisms used to simplify the transit procedure were shown.
Following the meeting, the heads of the customs services of the participating countries adopted an Action Plan for the development and implementation of a simplified transit procedure on the principle of "one window" along the Trans-Caspian International Middle Corridor East-West and signed the minutes of the meeting.
The parties identified as a goal the implementation of the discussed issues in a short time, which will create important opportunities to increase the attractiveness of the Middle Corridor for the transportation of goods along the East-West route.
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