OSCE PROMOTES DEVELOPMENT OF CROSS-BORDER TRADE AND TRANSIT POTENTIAL IN TURKMENISTAN

An online training on border crossing facilitation for transit goods carried by rail and road, opened in Ashgabat on 27 May 2020. The training is organized by OSCE Centre in Ashgabat within the framework of the Centre’s extra-budgetary project on “Strengthening State Border Service Capacities in Turkmenistan”, which places a particular focus on promoting cross-border trade and transit in the Central Asian region.

The purpose of the online training was to introduce participants to security, public health, technical, economic and environmental aspects of rail and road border crossing of transit goods as well as computerization and digitalization of transport infrastructures. As trade facilitation requires an interdisciplinary approach, the training brought together representatives of four government agencies: State Border, Customs and Migration Services of Turkmenistan as well as the Transport Police of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

During the opening session, Natalya Drozd, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat said: “Turkmenistan is investing continuous efforts in establishing new large-scale regional infrastructure frameworks to be better connected to their neighbours, and to boost co-operation with many more countries through various regional platforms.”

She also said: “We organized this event in an effort to support the host country’s initiatives on the development of international multimodal transit corridors and on sustainable transport, as reflected in United Nations General Assembly resolutions on the role of transport and transit corridors in ensuring international co-operation for sustainable development”.”

An international expert from the Russian Federation and representatives from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the EU-funded Border Management Programme in Central Asia, International Trade Centre, the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, International Road Transport Union and World Customs Organization covered a wide range of topics on border crossing facilitation for transit goods.

Experts stressed the importance of developing technologies and real-time information sharing for the efficient harmonization of border crossing and customs procedures. This would enable smooth movement of transit goods across borders.