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Administrative problems cause incomplete operation of TRACECA transport corridor

Business Materials 5 October 2009 19:14 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, October 5 / Trend , E.Ismailov /

The main reason for the incomplete operation of Europe-Caucasus-Asia Transport Corridor (TRACECA) is that the transportation of goods via this corridor costs a bit more expensive than the other corridors, which is an administrative problem, Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA Zhantoro Satybaldiyev said on Oct. 5.

"We have goods, the infrastructure is largely consistent, but there are administrative problems - a problem with crossing borders, problems with processing of customs documents, declaration unauthorized levies, inadequate tariff system," said Satybaldiyev, who chaired a round table of ambassadors of the participating countries of the transport corridor TRACECA in Baku on Oct. 5.

With the technical assistance of the European Commission and through the TRACECA project, measures are taken to introduce the latest vehicle technologies, organize and improve multimodal transport in the region, said Satybaldiyev.

Today, the European Commission funded 78 projects totaling 163 million euros (of which 64 projects of technical assistance, 14 investment). Projects were aimed at the harmonization of legislation, improvement of tariff policy, institutional strengthening and development of transport infrastructure corridor.

The total volume of freight traffic via the routes of the corridor in 2008 amounted to some 57 million tons, which is two million tons more than the previous year. This year decline is expected in the freight corridor, said Satybaldiyev.

Currently the capacity of the TRACECA corridor is not used fully, said Satybaldiyev, in many respects this is inhibited by several negative factors, institutional.

Imperfect tariff regulation and the lack of a harmonized regional approach to the introduction of tariffs on the corridor greatly increase transportation costs and reduce the profitability of routes. These transport costs caused the emergence of bottlenecks in the corridor TRACECA, which, according to Secretary General, calls for urgent solution at a political level.

Analysis and investigation showed that the main problem still exists on the corridor, still the sides incompletely fulfill a number of key provisions of the TRACECA Basic Multilateral Agreement. Institutional idea of the agreement requires the sides to facilitate the development of transit and free access to the market of transport services.  

Satybaldiyev said that another important factor is the problem of incomplete and ineffective implementation of international agreements and conventions (recommended by the European Economic Commission and UNESCAP) to facilitate the development of transport and at the same time ensure an adequate level of safety and security of cargo.

Satybaldiyev said that currently the transport infrastructure in the corridor TRACECA is capable of handling dry goods with an additional volume of more than 10 million tons per year.

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