DUSHANBE, September 22, 2013, Asia-Plus — A Resolution adopted at the High-Level International Conference on the “Development of Road Transport and Transit Potential in Central Asia for the Period up to 2023” has recommended the authorities of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to sign an agreement on automobile communication.
The Resolution has also recommended the governments of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to sign a trilateral trade and transit agreement.
Besides, participants in the conference that took place in Dushanbe on September 18 also recommended China to join the trans-boundary agreement signed by Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan within the framework of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.
Organized by the by the Government of Tajikistan in cooperation with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), the Intergovernmental Commission for the Transport Corridor Europe – Caucasus – Asia (TRACECA), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as well as IRU’s Tajik Member, the Association of International Road Transport Carriers in the Republic of Tajikistan (ABBAT), the conference reportedly brought together some 150 business and political experts from 16 countries and 12 international organizations.
The conference confirmed road transport’s untapped potential to contribute to the economic development of the region and adopts an Action Plan to further develop trade and international road transport in Central Asian countries and conference debates emphasized the great potential of the Central Asian region in supporting the development of trade and international road transport between Asia and the CIS, the Middle East and Europe, and particularly between Central Asia, China and Afghanistan.
We will recall that opening the Conference, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan, Matloubkhon Davlatov said, “The development of trade and transport is one of our priorities. Today the development of road transport infrastructure in the Republic is actively being implemented, so that road transport can help our country escape from the transport deadlock and become an active participant in regional and transcontinental cooperation. Only a coordinated approach to regional development, the creation of full-fledged regional transport infrastructure and the harmonization of procedures may attract trade by road to the Central Asian region.”
Conference participants adopted the Resolution stressing the need to integrate regional road transport in the Euro-Asian land transport links and called on governments in the region to harmonize international road transport and border crossing procedures by fully implementing tried and tested multilateral UN trade and transport facilitation Agreements and Conventions, as well as the OSCE’s “Handbook of Best Practices at Border Crossings” in Central Asian countries, while progressively liberalizing bilateral and multilateral road transport operations across the region and facilitating visa issuance procedures for professional drivers.
